Their gates will close around you
by iram0123
Summary: Just when things couldn't get worse they do. Just when everything is supposed to be normal it isn't like that. Something unexpected always happens, but isn't it the most rarest thing for such things to happen to a normal girl? Blood may fall around the world, events might happen around her, but she doesn't want to have anything to do with them, with those crimson colored eyes.
1. Chapter 1

**Their gates will close around you**

 **Chapter 1**

 **The walls of the school**

* * *

The scenery was dull, just like the cloud filled, gloomy sky that didn't seem to be in the mood to let sunlight through. Even though I had never been someone who was a big fan of tanning, I certainly missed the familiar yellow glow. It would probably even light up my mood somehow to an extent that what would soon happen wouldn't press my mind down so much anymore. The cool glass of the window was already making my forehead feel numb, but I just watched with tired eyes at everything that passed by. So far there were nothing, but trees around. _The village we passed earlier had been much nicer._

Craning my neck I closed my eyes, when I noticed how stiff it had become causing an uncomfortable pressure around the area. But not only was my neck stiff my shoulders soon joined it, when I rolled them to hear a satisfying 'pop' as a result. I did this for my few other bones and all that time I saw the person driving the car drum their fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, a simple golden ring glittering on the ring finger.

A small smile started to play on my already dry lips, when the pace of the fingers started to become more harsher. _She's going to snap...now._

"For the love of God, Michi! Stop doing that!" Murky brown eyes mixed with even darker brown looked at me from the mirror with clear annoyance and exasperation.

I simply shrugged, lowering my gaze to the ground, feeling a little guilty. We had after all woken very early for this drive so we wouldn't be late and of course both of us would be on the edge. Especially me, because I wouldn't have minded one bit, if we even would be late.

My mother, Kazutso Miu, had gone through a lot of trouble after all with her planning for the small trip and she wasn't the kind of person to stay calm, if we would fall behind in schedule. She had even gone and brushed my messy, straight hair up into a high ponytail that's tip was currently tickling the nape of my neck. I had not dared to question her actions, considering how flushed her face already was. Though, I found it slightly refreshing to see the normal face I was used on seeing covered in light makeup. Lips lightly painted with pink color and lashes darkened with mascara. Mother looked a little younger.

 _Though, did she truly have to style me up like this?_ The itching feeling from the long black socks had already made me uncomfortable an hour ago and short pink skirt was not helping. Luckily, the shirt I had been given was not so bad, because it was loose from all around and had long black sleeves that ended just to my wrists. I wasn't even bothered by the small pink flower patterns on it, honestly. The shoes were also simple, but new dark sneakers with greyish strings in bows near the end.

Seeing that I wasn't going to say anything, mother glanced at me from the mirror again. The frown however, didn't leave from her forehead that easily. "Look, we talked about this already. It's just a one year and then we'll move into our new house and you can then go to a different school."

I bit the inside of my cheek, now feeling myself growing annoyed. "But why this one? This isn't a normal school, but a school that has a campus where I'll have to sleep in!"

"It was the only school where you could spend the nights in and without us having to worry over a high price and the headmaster, Cross Kaien-san, seems like a honest and nice man." A small smile flickered on Miu's lips finally, but I wrinkled my nose, not finding her reasons reassuring enough. It wasn't that I didn't trust her word about the headmaster, but rather that I had to spend away from her and father. Did she not understand that her daughter had never spend a night outside the house without one of them? It seemed rather obvious why I was reluctant to follow with their plans.

"How can you even trust anyone after few calls?" I muttered under my breath, finding the whole idea ridiculous.

"I _have_ lived much longer than you and your father is the same." I stiffened, when mother send a playful look into my direction over her shoulder for second, before returning her gaze back to the road. I never really knew how quiet I had to speak so that she wouldn't hear. After I didn't answer again, she sighed softly. "I know this is hard for your, Michi. Even I don't like this idea of letting you stay in an unfamiliar environment for a year. For few months, maybe, but not for twelve."

I sighed, remembering once again the reason for such a long time separation. See, my mother had a job as a gardener and recently she and her other co-workers had gotten this really big project to design with architects a new park in the middle of my old city's center over the old one that recently got destroyed. But because she was part of this project, Miu had been given a job offer in another city further away to the north. So once her work would be done, we would move into a new house to a new city and that would be it. Though, it was obvious that a project like designing a whole, large park newly was not an easy task.

As for my father, he was an owner of antiques shop so this move would trouble his business in some ways. But because he loved my mother and was happy for her, he was willing to find a new place for the shop, before the move and work even harder to gather enough money for it. That had made my mother a very happy woman of course, but then there was me. The extra luggage.

 _I could've taken care of myself just fine! The shops are only a half-hour away and the buss money could've taken me to school for months!_ I crossed my hands in sudden urge to rip my hair off. I understood that my parents were worried to leave me on my own for days because of their busy schedule from now on, but they didn't have to rely on extreme actions. Sending your own child into a private school to an unfamiliar area sounded pretty unbelievable for me at least. Though, there would be no backing away from now on, since we were already near the destination anyway.

The small drumming sound echoed in my ears and I clenched my hands, taking in a deep breath. It had become a rather too familiar thing, for my heart to beat faster nowadays, when I thought of the academy my father had found for me. At first, I was shocked, but my shock had started to change into slight fear and nervousness that send butterflies in my stomach to flatter around wildly. Getting to know new places was one of the situations I didn't like at all. It had been bad enough, when I had started high school and everything was too new for me. Though, I had been lucky to make few new friends, but now that the second semester had started I had to start things all over again.

My head met with the window again, with a displeased frown on my features. _This is not fair at all._ And that was all I could even think of anymore during the lasting silence in the car. Maybe, if I took a nap I would wake up to find everything to be a dream.

Of course that calming thought didn't last for such a long time, because the car jerked and its smooth movement forward stopped only to make a move to the left and stop again. Swallowing hard, I straightened up my neck meekly looked over the seat to widen my eyes in mild surprise that made my lower jaw grow slack. My mother let out a laugh, when she turned her head to see my dumbfounded face.

Near the car, where we had stopped, were wide stone stairs leading up a very gentle hill, till they reached a big wall with equally large iron gates that were wide open. And just behind the wall, a tall, greyish building stood in its majestic glory with dark roof on the most tallest towers that hovered in the air. It looked like a mix between a large mansion and a castle, but that wasn't the main thing I was thinking about. The green forest was like being blocked from entering its grounds by the thick and tall looking wall that didn't seem to waver. Merely by being there it seemed to be more stronger than steel and forbidding anyone alive from entering, but it wasn't scary, merely powerful.

My mind was blank as a sheet of papers and all I knew was that I was speechless and shocked to the point I couldn't move. It was like something out of 18th century that I had only seen from pictures. Even the tall, dark brown doors between the rock walls in front of us seemed too unreal to be true. A doubt that we weren't in Japan anymore also started to make my eyes more wider than they already were.

"Now Michi, what do you think?" The question snapped me out of the trance and I whirled my head towards amused looking eyes.

"Just wait a second. You're saying this is where I'll be _staying_ in? Are you _sure_ this is the right address?" My tone must have been reflecting my scattered mind, because mother's lips widened to the sides to the point that the smile reminded was like Cheshire cat's.

"I'm pretty sure. Kaien-san had sent pictures few weeks ago so I couldn't be mistaken." She took off her seatbelt and then her smile softened, once looking out of the window. "That must be Kaien-san. It seems he has come to greed us." Mother mused out loud, making butterflies return. Once she stepped out of the car and closed the door behind her, I made myself as small and invisible as possible. I just couldn't believe how soon I would need to start going school in here, in that building.

My fingers dug to the flesh of my arm sharply through the fabric, but I didn't let it bother me at least. However, I still had enough curiosity left in me, despite how chained I started to feel. After mustering enough courage, I raised my head a little to see over the window.

In my last school, our headmaster had been a very wrinkly looking old man with a bald on top of his head while white strands of hair would be combed back. He would always look very strict and unpleasant sight to look at so I had expected this Kaien to be the same, but to my surprise, I was met with a complete opposite looking male. His hair was light color between a very light blond and ash that was put into a low ponytail and it went a little past his shoulder. While the light on the thin looking glasses blocked me from seeing his eyes, I kept scanning his attire, which didn't consider a clean suit that I was used to. But rather a green scarf that was wrapped around his neck and a long light coat that went past his knees. Under it were grey pants and finally they stopped to a pair of black shoes.

An eyebrow rose nearly to my hairline, without me intending to do so. _He and the scenery don't match at all!_

As if sensing or perhaps also hearing my inner voice, the man turned around giving me a chance to see a pair of same colored eyes as his hair, though they seemed to have more darker shades in them. When they met mine, already soft smile on his lips widened and he waved at me. Surprised by this I backed away a little, but then saw mother giving me a look so I had not choice, but to come out as well.

 _Alright, just take deep breaths in and out. Don't look at mother or she's give you the eye._ When I repeated these words in my head, my legs were already making me walk closer to a strangely relaxed looking man who kept smiling warmly. Now that I was even closer, I noticed that his skin was rather fair and his face was shaped like a young girls, but the chin had had the sharpness of a man.

"You must be Michi-chan! It's very nice to meet you!" The overly cheerful voice that came out of his mouth made me halt just few meters away from him in surprise, however it was also the fact that he addressed me with such familiarity that gave me chills. "Miu-chan! I must say, if we weren't acquaintances I would've mistaken you two as sisters!"

"Oh, Kaien-san, you flatter me!" Mother laughed with a hint of red hue on her powdered cheeks.

My face twisted like I was watching some cheesy and awkward exchange of two people that had huge age difference from a movie. I couldn't even tell, if Kaien was being serious or just trying to play nice. I sighed looking at the ground. _Why me?_

"...I should really be going now. I'll have to drive for some time to get back home." From my mother's words, my head shot right back up and my eyes darted towards the towering building, hearting beating even faster than in the car.

My eyes shot up towards the tall building behind the gates and a painful squeeze tortured the inside of my chest. _I would live here for now on. For a year without my family and home._ Dread was filling me from inside out in a fast pace, but I didn't want to show it so I clenched my fists tightly, knuckles turning as white as possible. However, my walls started to crack, when mother turned to look at me, her eyes soft as her smile.

With my luggage already out and next to her, she reached out and placed a hand on my shoulders. "Now, you can call me this evening, because I'll be staying in a nearby town for a night. After that you'll have to send us letters and I've packet some postmarks for you just in case. Don't get into trouble, stay healthy and we'll see each other s-soon."

The brown eyes started to shimmer with tears and the white part looked a little red from how hard they were held back, but the smile only wavered a little from the trembling lower lip, before it returned to its former glory. I couldn't take it any longer so my arms wrapped around her naturally, my cheek being tickled by her short brown hair. The scent of perfume surrounded me, when her arms returned the hug more tightly. Mother stroked my back gently, leaving a trail of her warmth on the fabric that went through all the way to my skin. It was warm and welcoming and something I wouldn't experience for a while.

With my eyes feeling hot from tears, I closed them and swallowed the lump in my throat carefully, hoping that she wouldn't notice my state. I knew that her job was important and it should've been a happy occasion that she would get a better place in a year, but I just couldn't be happy for her.

 _"Do not make your mother sad. She deserves better."_ The face that father had made, when he said that flashed behind my eyelids. He hadn't been angry, but not happy either.

Holding back another set of tears I forced a small smile and drew back from mother, while meeting her eyes with mine. I wasn't angry, I had not been angry at her for weeks and I wanted to keep it that way. I didn't want to send her to the road with a bad parting with her daughter weighting her mind. Otherwise, she might not get back home without driving over the speed limit or going to a wrong road.

"See you later then." I said, almost hearing the strain on my voice and cursed mentally for letting it slip.

But mother obvious to this, smiled with teary eyes, placing a final kiss on my cheek. "I'll work extra hard."

"Don't go overboard." I smiled truly this time and she returned it, but then she looked something behind my shoulder and let out a laugh, breaking the moment. Curious of what she was laughing at, I looked over my shoulder not being able to hold back a raised eyebrow once again, from what I saw.

Kaien's shoulders were shaking as he was turned away from us. A white tissue, which he had pulled out was wiping overflowing tears that streamed down his face. It may have sounded touching for him to be moved by our little display, but I wasn't feeling anything like that at all. His face was red and the way he sneezed into the white fabric sounded and looked like a grade school kid's actions rather than an adults.

 _How can mother laugh at him?_ As I thought of that, he sneezed again almost creating a breeze from the force. _Alright, that is pretty comical._

"Kaien-san." Mother stepped forward, looking very serious this time.

Kaien stopped crying and lowered the tissue, blinking owlishly at her. "Yes?"

She didn't hesitate to bow ninety degrees, which I had never seen her done before. "Please take care of Michi."

My blood rushed to my cheeks from slight embarrassment of how dramatic she was acting, but at the same time I was happy of how she thought of me with her actions. Though, I still wished that she would quickly raise her head up and stop being so humble.

Kaien seemed to be surprised for a moment, but then he smiled the same way he had, when I had seen him from the car. "No need to worry. I also have a daughter so I know how you must feel. I'm sure that she can help Michi-chan to get to know the school better."

Mother finally straightened up. "Ah, that's right. Her name is Yuki, right?"

"That's right! Michi-chan!" I jumped a little, when Kaien suddenly called to me cheerfully. "I'm also very sure you'll like Yuki-chan! She's a very sweet girl and you're the same age, too!"

 _A doting parent, huh. No wonder father also seemed to like this man._ I gave a forced smile not sure what to think of the man anymore nor about the idea of being friends with his daughter. It would also become even more harder to think, if she would have his personality to the boot. As I thought of that, I also started to image what she would look like. The first image that I came up was a perky, tall girl with long light blond hair that was freely waving on the wind, but then I just came up with a more girly version of Kaien. Which made my stomach drop, finding that going a little too far.

Mother gave me another hug, but much shorter than the last one. She seemed also to be a little more brighter, too. Probably because she felt much more confident of leaving me in the care of Kaien and the academy. Otherwise she would look ready to burst into tears again and it made me happy that she didn't. I wouldn't be able to handle it without giving out a similar reaction.

"See you, then." Mother whispered and kissed me on the cheek again, but now she would not truly do it for a while. And by a while, I meant months.

I watched with heavy heart as she sat back into the car and the car let out a low rumble, before speeding out of the gates that opened on their own. I wanted to memorize what her car looked like so I wouldn't forget it on the day that she would come back with it to pick me up. It was small, bright red with black lines near the window. Wheels with centers that had reminded me of snowflakes as a child and inside were seats that had grey lines of strings that had been sewed to the black, thick fabrics that had felt rough yet warm against my back. And most of all, the scent of leather and mother's perfume was carved deep into my mind and I hoped it would stay like that for as long as it could.

Slowly, I turned to look at Kaien who had patiently been standing behind me, quietly. He continued smiling, but my lips just wouldn't twitch up to return the gesture. I wasn't with mother anymore, but with a complete stranger who I had never met before. The same thing could be said about his school. It looked amazing, but so different from my home and it would be a constant reminder of how far away I truly was.

I clenched my fists. _I will be fine and survive through all of this. A year will be over, before I would even notice._

"Welcome to the Cross Academy, Michi-chan." Kaien said and then looked down at my luggage. "Those look heavy. May I help you?"

I shook my head and picket up my backpack and raised the suitcase to it was standing on its small wheels under its weight. "I can carry them both."

"Oh! What a spirited girl you are!" He beamed and then pointed towards the huge wooden door. "Just follow me and I'll introduce the grounds to you!"

"Alright." I answered simply and started to walk up the hard stairs, right behind the happy looking man.

"Maybe we should start with the top floors that have most of our classes and of course my office? Then we can go to the lower levels and look at the library and nurse's office! Most of the school is very old, but we did few upgrades to it few years ago. For example..." Kaien kept talking, energetic as a small kid. "Oh, I'm sorry, if I'm rambling on. It's just a very exciting thing to have a new face around."

I simply shrugged. "it's not a big deal, but I would just like to rest for now."

Like a thunder had hit him, he stiffened. "Of course! You must be exhausted from the long trip! How could I even ask you for a tour!"

My legs almost made me took a hesitant step back. _What is wrong with him? What kind of adult acts like this? Even my mother is not as bad as him, when it comes to over reacting._

Once we got to the top, I looked up as the shadows of the walls had touched my face and swallowed softly, forcing my feet to keep moving. With that I hadn't even noticed how quickly we had become even closer to the building and I got to see how big it truly was. It made me almost forgot how to breathe, with its height. For a confirmation, I reached out and pinched the skin on my palm, there was pain and the red flush that was left on it. I wasn't dreaming any of this.

Kaien reached out for the heavy looking door and it opened with a creak, but was revealed behind it made my jaw drop again. Inside two different stairs on either side leaded to the upper floors that had white railings made of stones while high chandeliers had bright lights shining from lamps, brightening the huge space. The mats working like paths were maroon colored and soft under my feet like from a hotel that I had stayed in with my mother last night and the scent was almost the same. Though there was the slight smell of old wood it also hid the hint of soap like scent in it, too. Paintings with sceneries and people I didn't know hung on the walls with their frames that were either gold shaded, wood or silver.

Schools were supposed to be plain or modern and if they would be old, their woods would creak under any little weight. They were places that had nothing special in their environment and how could anyone who just needed to sit in a class room complain about furniture. However, from where I stood it wasn't like that anymore at all, but entirely different.

 _You can't be serious._

Everything looked big, beautiful, old or majestic, leaving me feeling out of place completely. I couldn't believe that my parents had been able to afford to send me into this school. It looked like something only meant for elite or politicians kids so how come it was the right place to place a normal high school student in? Kaien just kept smiling like he hadn't noticed my shock and talked about something that I was too entranced to listen to.

The school had looked quite foreign from the outside, but the inside was even more breathtaking. If only mother would've stayed to see this, she would've definitely had a heart attack. Though, she had mentioned seeing pictures of the place from Kaien so maybe she had already known what it was like. I just wished she would've showed me them, then I could've been saved from being shell shocked. _I would need to complain to her about it, when I would call this evening._

"Now, here is your new schedule." My wandering eyes were stopped, when a paper was held in front of my face all of sudden. Kaien smiled widely. "It's a good thing that I took it with me, when I came to greed you."

"Y-yeah..." I nodded my head and then reached out for the paper. It felt obviously lighter than my luggage, but when I saw the new order of lessons and unknown names, it felt the most heaviest thing in the world. _Just how can I find these without getting lost?_

"You're in the same class as my dear Yuki! So you can ask anything from her, if you don't understand!" Kaien sighed dreamily. "My little girl is going to get a new friend."

 _It's official. He's a weirdo._ The fact made me feel worried what kind of people lived in the campus, but I shook that thought away and then continued following like a duckling behind the headmaster. We stopped in front of another door which wasn't as big as the first one so he was able to open it easily.

The yard that opened before us was quite large, but I shouldn't have expected anything less from what I had already seen. The trees were surrounding the stone paths that continued twisting around small areas that were reserved for another patch of grass or flowerbeds. A simple fountain was spitting out clear water that reminded the sound of a shower as the drops continued hitting the surface harshly. Other than that, there was no other sound around the area besides the chirping of birds and wind ruffling the leaves. It was like there was no other person even existing around the grounds and it gave the whole place a more peaceful aura. It was not something you could've thought as a place for school.

Then, I saw something that caught my eye. The path we were walking split to two the left and right and when I looked at where they lead they ended to a wall with a single wooden door in the middle. So when I naturally didn't know where to go, I just followed Kaien quietly, but I kept glancing towards the other path.

"That's where the Night Class students come from." I whirled my head towards the back of the glass eyed man, who hadn't turned to look at me.

"Night Class?" I repeated out loud confused.

He nodded, starting to sound quite happy while talking. "They are students that live in a different dormitory, the Moon Dormitory, and go to school at night. This path however, leads to the Day Class dormitory, the Sun Dormitory."

"So there are truly people who like to study at night, huh." I said out loud, looking back ahead.

Kaien chuckled. "You could say that, but I want you to understand a rule we have here considering them and the Day class..." He suddenly stopped walking and turned to look at me with an unexpectedly serious face. It made me stop walking immediately. "No matter what, nobody in the Day Class is allowed to go to the Moon Dormitory nor do the Night Class have the privilege to do the same to the Sun Dormitory. And I would also like you to know that we take the curfews here in the Cross Academy serious. So if any student sneaks to the school during the night from the Day Class, our prefects will catch them and there will be severe punishments later. And of course there is the same rule to the Night Class during the day. Do you understand?"

"...Y-yes." I almost choked on my own saliva, but I couldn't help it. The way Kaien wasn't speaking in a silly, high pitched way was very shocking and... a little scary. It was clearly obvious that you would be punished, if you broke rules in school, but he made it sound like something more serious than that. His whole face was telling that this wasn't a joke, but it made me also very curious. "Um, don't Night and Day Class get along very well, then? Is that why there are these strict rules?"

The light yet dark eyes blinked at me few times, but then my eyes went wide again, when Kaien doubled over from laugher. He was clutching his stomach like I had just said the most funniest thing in the world and fell down to the ground to his knees. Tears started to spill from his eyes and the way his voice echoed around the area caused the birds on nearby trees to fly away in fright, but I just stood there looking like an idiot.

My cheeks flamed a little, but I bit my inner cheek trying to remain calm. I was angry, because he seemed like he was mocking me, but I was also wondering why he was doing so in the first place. There had been nothing wrong with my question and his reaction to it was slightly offending. I mean, there didn't seem to be any other reason for different kind of classes to be separated like that. _So why is he laughing like that!?_

The expression I was making must have finally shown how I felt, because Kaien's laughers started to fade out and he stood up again, wiping away remaining tears. "I'm sorry about that, but it just seemed so absurd for those two classes to hate each other. Especially the Day Class. You'll see soon enough what I mean, but as for the rules, they're only for safety reasons. I couldn't bare it, if someone in my school would get hurt." Kaien showed me again that soft smile of his. "I think we have been standing idly by long enough!"

Maybe he had hoped that his explanation would've made everything clearer. Unfortunately, it didn't.

* * *

I threw my shoes immediately off and didn't watch them fall to the floor for I already had laid down on a surprisingly big bed. The scent of wood with a hint of lavender hit my nostrils and I let out a long sigh that let out some strain in my body. I was surprisingly tired, but hadn't even realized wanting to rest until I arrived to my new room. And to my shock and surprise once again, I liked how it looked. It had simple color team of white and a hint of maroon again, but there were drawers, a desk, closet and a bed for two people. My roommate though, wasn't in the room at the moment so I helped myself by just lazing around. Besides, I wasn't yet in the mood to start getting familiar with the new _home_ I had been given.

As if the uniform that was also laying next to me would've known my thoughts, it drew my eyes to look at its colors once more. First there was a simple, white button shirt that would need to be worn under a black jacket with white lines around the collar and on the sides. The dark color was also decorating the short skirt that would probably reach only to my middle thighs and it made me feel uncomfortable. My last uniform had had much longer skirt from obvious reasons, but different school different customs it is then. Even the silver necklace that I had been given with the school's symbol on it was a new thing for me. Luckily though, I also needed to wear a pair of black socks that would reach almost to the hem of the skirt.

My fingers played with the red string that also belonged to my new outfit. It would need to be put into a ribbon, when I would go tomorrow to the classes. Frankly, I quite liked the colors the uniform had and also its scent wasn't all that bad no matter how much I tried to deny it. The new school bag wasn't so much different from my old one and it made me also feel a little more happier.

 _That's right,_ I stood up and pulled my phone out. _I still need to call to mother, before she goes to bed. It's almost ten at night anyway._ The grey filled sky had changed colors to black, but the clouds certainly had cleared out nicely so that the stars could've been seen with the bright full moon on the sky. Though, the outside would become dark again, when a single, lonely cloud would be moved by the wind to cover the moon. It had already done it many times and it was like watching lights being turned on and off, over and over again.

The beeping sound of the phone was the only thing heard in the room, after I pressed the calling button. It kept doing it for a while close to my ear so I decided to sit down again and look at the wall absentmindedly. Honestly, I was looking so forward to hear mother's voice that my heart just wouldn't stop beating harshly against my ribcage. It felt like days had passed, since I even heard a single word from her mouth.

At last, she picket up and I leaned forward after hearing this. "Hello? Mother?"

 _"Michi-chan! How are you so far?"_ Her voice was immediately filled with worry and a smile spread on my lips.

"I'm fine. The room is not quite that bad and the same could be said about the dorm, too."

A sigh on the other end. _"That's good to hear, dear. So what do you think of Kaien-san?"_

"Honestly? He's weird, but amusing and doesn't seem like a bad headmaster." I answered with a shrug, like she could see me in front of her.

 _"What did I tell you?"_ She laughed in delight and I froze, realizing my mistake.

 _I'm supposed to dislike him._ I bit my lower lip and decided to change the subject. "So how is the hotel?"

 _"Oh, just wonderful! I also like the room I was given here. It's a little different from the one we stayed in, but the problem is that most of my clothes are covered in cat's fur! I don't know how..."_ As she spoke, a smile came over my features again. She sounded so much more like herself than in the car, while I had been annoying her. The guilt didn't come as a surprise, when it finally created a lump in my throat. " _Are you still there, Michi?"_

"Yeah. Just a little tired, that's all." I said and then started to play with the red ribbon again.

 _"Do you like your roommate?"_ Mother asked, clearly curious.

"I haven't met her yet. Kaien-san said that she's probably visiting her friends in other rooms." When my eyes went back to the window I noticed that the moon was being covered again by the clouds.

 _"Well, remember to be nice and study as well."_

"I'm not in a middle-school anymore, you know." The deadpan in my voice made her only chuckle.

 _"You never know what might be going through that head of yours. I remember the time when your rebellious age started and-"_

"Alright, alright! Has father called yet?" I asked.

A grunt came from mother's end of phone. _"Stop trying to change the subject. But yes, he did call an hour ago and he wishes you a good night."_

I hummed. "Tell him that I said hi, when you get home."

 _"Alright. Is there anything else you want to talk about?"_ Mother asked back and I paused for a moment.

 _What do I even want to say to her? Tell her to be well? Take care of he health? Drive carefully?_

Off all things that I thought about, none of them could actually truly tell how I felt. I may have still felt a little sour from everything, but also a little sad. I had been nervous, amazed, surprised, shocked and confused ever since I stepped inside the walls of the academy and it all had happened in a matter of hours. Kaien was truly a strange man, but he was the last thing I needed to be concerned about.

I didn't want to feel like something was sticking needles in my chest for the rest of the year so I needed to try and calm down. Though, I wasn't still sure what to say to mother, after my thoughts passed away. Simple words only came out. "I love you."

 _"Aw! I love you too, muffin..."_ There was a waver in her voice at the end and I could almost see tears in her eyes again. _"I'm sorry, again, about all of this. You shouldn't be treated this way-"_

I smiled a little, closing my eyes and covering them with my free hand. "Don't worry. Year will be over soon, right? So just concentrate on the work and we'll see each other again. Tell father to do so, too."

 _"...Thank you, Michi."_ Those were also very simple words, but they made me just smile more.

"Good night, mother."

 _"Good night. Have sweet dreams."_ And just like that the call ended and everything was quiet again.

I placed the phone down and wrapped my arms around my knees, feeling very tired all of sudden. But I also felt a little better, now that things seemed a little brighter somehow. It was true that I had not overreacted, when I had been told to move into the Cross Academy, but maybe things weren't so bad after all. I would still be able to send letters to them and they would send me back as soon as they could. There would be nothing to fear in this place as long as I just kept on going with the flow.

The room looked alright for me and the scenery was also quite nice to watch at. There would be much nature around and I could also make new friends. After all, it was just a school and not a prison camp. I looked down at the uniform again. _Everything will be just fine._

As soon as I thought of that, the door suddenly was opened and someone stepped in. I quickly whirled around and unsurprisingly there stood a girl about my age there. She blinked puzzled at me from where she stood and I did the same to her, though already figuring slowly who she might be. There was a silence between us, but then it was broken, when she let out a gasp.

"Are you my new roommate?" She asked, with a little hint of excitement and happiness in her tone. "Kazutso Michi, right?"

I nodded. "Right. And you are..."

"Mizukani Momo. It's nice to meet you!" She smiled brightly from ear to ear and bowed, closing the door behind her. Then she started walking towards me and during that time, I took in her appearance. She seemed to be smaller than me in both height and build and by that I meant that she was very skinny from head to toe. Still, her long, dirty blond hair was wavy and framed her flushed cheeks that had healthy glow in them like her grey eyes that practically shined in the light of the room. She wore light pink lipstick and if you would lean closer you would be able to see her mascaraed eyes that were dark as the black uniform she was wearing.

Simply, she looked to be very cheerful and cute kind of girl. The one that boy would see in school and have a crush on immediately after receiving a sweet smile, greeting or a compliment. Even Momo's name sounded very cute, but I was snapped back from observing, when she started speaking again only a feet away from me.

"Honestly, it was getting a little boring around here, when I had nobody to talk to. All my friends have roommates, but I had been left without one from the beginning. But at least now you're here! What do you think of our room? Isn't it cute?" She asked with a sweet smile.

Somehow, with her personality, she reminded me of Kaien, though she wasn't as bad as him. I simply smiled again. "Yes, it's very nice."

"Isn't it? Though, I wish it could be a little more pink." She pouted, but then her eyes fell on my suitcase. "Huh? You haven't unpacked yet?"

"No. I was a little tired, when I came and I just talked with my mother on the phone." I explained and her pink, pouty lips formed an 'O'.

"I see. Well, feel free to look around while I'll go and take a shower. I can't go to school tomorrow with this greasy hair. What would Aidou-kun think about me then?" Her nose wrinkled, but then she shook her head like getting rid of thoughts she didn't want.

"Aidou? Is he your boyfriend?" I asked and my lips almost twitched up, when Momo's face turned tomato red and steam came out of her ears.

"B-b-b-b-boyfriend?! A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aidou-kun and me!? N-no! T-t-t-that is n-n-not possible!" She stuttered awfully lot and the blush seemed to deepen even more, but she had a silly smile playing on her lips. She covered her cheeks in embarrassment and avoided looking into my eyes by eyeing the texture of the carpet. "Um, I-I guess you still don't know about him, being new and all, but...A-aidou-kun is from the Night Class."

Realization came over me, when my mind went to back to the talk I had earlier today with Kaien. "Headmaster Kaien-san did mention them. They're from the Moon Dorm, right? The one that the Day Class is forbidden from going in, right?"

"Y-yes." Momo's smile became smaller and her blush also mimicked its action. "It's a pity, though."

"Then, how do you know him?" I asked curiously, truly being confused, with the curfew rules being around and all of that.

"Well, when the school ends for the Day Class and the sun is setting, the Night Class members come to the school and that's pretty much the only time we can see them up close." Momo's eyes became distant and she blushed even more, again. "Aidou-kun is so dreamy."

I wasn't able to hold back a smile, when I watched her. She truly seemed to like the boy she was talking about and it sounded very sweet. I was never really the type to understand dating, relationships and so on, but it was strangely entertaining and adorable as Momo kept talking like a love-struck girl.

"How long have you like him?" I asked again and this made Momo very happy, because her smile widened.

"Since I came to this school. I just saw him and..." Blush darkened into hundreds different shades. "I was just so in love with him! I better go into shower now, though. Just knock, if you need anything."

"Alright. Take your time." I waved and she disappeared to the bathroom in a second. Soon the sound of rushing water was heard and I let out a small chuckle. _I truly have been worrying over nothing. First days tend to just stress people._

I stretched my limbs and once I was done I crouched down to my suitcase, wanting to get everything to its place before tomorrow. My fingers touched the lock code I had placed on my luggage and soon there was a soft click and it opened. If I remembered correctly, I had placed my pyjamas on the top with my toothbrush and the clothes came next. Mother had also mentioned that she had packet some stuff from a first-aid kit to make sure that I wouldn't need to run around all the way to the nurses office.

The list in my head continued, but just as I was about to take the things out, something jumped out from under the pile sending clothes to the floor. A little surprised squeak came from me and I jumped back almost falling to my rear, before getting my balance back. If possible, my heart felt like it had almost burst out of my chest and I quickly grabbed the nearest object around, which turned out to be my blue T-shirt. My fingers clutched tightly in their grip and as slowly as I could I looked around the room, trying to find the creature that had caused the mess in front of me. I was certain that I hadn't been just seeing things and that the fact that scared me.

Nothing else, but clothes and other such objects had been packet personally, by me. And I was positive that there had been nothing living in it, when I had closed it back at home and opened it in the hotel room. It was though possible that something must have slipped in during that time and a fear that it might be a rat or mouse made me shiver.

"Meow!"

"Eeeep!" I closed my mouth tightly and quickly jumped as far away from the bed, where I had heard the noise come from. I pointed my so called 'weapon' towards it, while my eyes were darting up and down, searching where exactly the intruder was. Despite knowing that something smaller than human couldn't understand a word, I spoke like reassuring myself that it wouldn't be able to hurt me. "C-come out."

"Meow." Another voice almost left from my mouth again, when a blur of white and brown peeked from under the bed. A pair of light brown and white twisted on top of the creature's head as it tilted up at me curiously, while my mouth closed and opened from utter shock. I may have been feeling the same emotion, when I had seen the Cross Academy, but that was nothing, when I saw the animal that had scared me.

"K-kei...?" My voice came out as a gasp of air, but if I would've enough reality awareness at that moment I would've said the name as loudly as I could, alarming Momo in the shower.

There, under the bed, _my_ bed, was my family's cat, Kei. The feline had the typical curious look on as he kept looking up at me, but then he came out fully and walked towards me. I didn't stop him, when he started to rub his small head against my leg, but I also didn't return the affection. It was definitely Kei, the familiar Japanese bobtail that I was used on seeing everyday back at home. He had a white fur that covered the large part of his body, but the top of his head had small light brown spots along with his short tail, giving him some color. His yellow eyes with a hint of brown were large as ever as they looked up at me cutely and that's when I finally dropped the shirt and knelt down.

"How on earth...?" The question just hung in the air and I picket Kei up into my arms. He didn't complain of course, but started to rub his head again against my chest while a low purr vibrate through his whole body. While he was doing this familiar routine, my mind just kept being filled with different kind of things that mostly considered having a panic attack.

It wouldn't take a genius to understand that animals weren't allowed in school and I doubted that Kaien would give a permission for one no matter how nice he was. But there was also the problem that I didn't know how Kei had gotten into my very own suitcase. There had not been an opportunity for him to sneak into it back at home, because I had seen him in my mother's room, when were packing...

Like a lightbulb had been lift on top of my head, I looked back down at the cat, with a thoughtful look this time. There was a lingering suspicion in my mind that Kei must've sneaked into mother's luggage at that time. That would've explained how some of mother's clothes had been covered in fur today like she told me on the phone and there was a certain possibility that he had snuck into my luggage before I had closed it in the hotel.

I smiled rather proudly after my thinking was over. _Wow! Who would've thought that I had enough brains to solve mysteries like these?_

The singing in the shower brought me back to reality and I started to mentally panic. My arms tightened around Kei and I walked to my phone. I had to call mother and tell her about our pet, but just as I was about to press another button, I stopped. If I would call her now, she would need to drive back here tomorrow to pick him up and then probably drive the whole day and night after that to get home or waste her money on another hotel room. The more I thought of this, the more I didn't want to call her.

 _But if you don't you'll get in trouble, if someone finds out about the cat!_

My eyes met with Kei's again and they were the most largest and cutest things in the whole world. My parents would certainly notice that he was missing so they would find out the truth sooner or later, but should this really be bothering them now while they had to work? I didn't want them to have extra stress and if Kei would be staying with them they would still need to take care of him. _I guess this is like doing them a favor._

I stroked the top of the cat's head my index and middle finger making him purr back. "Now Kei, I want you to stay extra quiet. Can you do that for me?"

Like he would've understood me, he blinked and that was an enough answer for me. I quickly picket my bag and started to take all the unnecessary stuff out, after placing Kei on top of my bed where I could keep an eye on him. He didn't seem to be in a playful mood and went to a sleeping position looking rather tired all of sudden. This made me wonder how he lasted in the closed suitcase for more than five hours where obviously wasn't enough air, but then I remembered that on the upper part of my suitcase was a small hole that had come to it years ago and concluded that he must've gotten oxygen from there. It made me feel very relieved, because I wouldn't have liked the idea of finding my cat dead in the middle of all my clothes.

I picket the feline up again and he didn't resist, when I placed him in the almost empty bag and closed the zipper, but not fully so he could still breathe. I didn't believe that anyone would be still moving around in the outside so that would be a perfect opportunity for me to take Kei out for some exercise. However, just when I was about to exit the room in a hurry, I remembered my roommate who was still unaware of the situation I was having.

Taking in a deep breath, I knocked on the bathroom door. "Momo, I'm going out a little to take some fresh air. I'll be back later."

The sound of the shower stopped almost immediately, after I got my response. "Are you sure? It's really dark out there."

"Yes!" Maybe my voice had too much urgency in it, but it was too late for me to fix that mistake.

"Weeeeell, alright, but don't take too long. It wouldn't be good, if you would be tired on the first day of school." She sounded doubtful at first, but then her tone turned into concern and firmness.

I sighed quietly in relief, seeing that she gave me permission easily. "Thanks. I'll be back soon."

"You're lucky that the prefects aren't around the area currently..." Momo mumbled something along the line, but I didn't have enough time to listen, when I was already out of the door.

* * *

"Kei, you're one troublesome fellow aren't you?" I asked and held out another biscuit for the cat who started to eat it happily. A wind blew and I shivered a little, arms filling with goosebumps. "Jeez. It's autumn alright now. I should've brought a jacket with me."

Kei, being unaware of my little mumbling, started to explore around once again. I had picket up a random spot behind the trees of a small forest part of a larger one, but because I was still not familiar with the area I stayed close to the edge of the lake and bridge that lead from the Sun Dorm over the mass over water to the main building. It would probably be exciting to have that kind of road to school, but I would also get bored of it in a couple of weeks.

My eyes went towards another bridge that was further away on the left and tried to follow where it lead. I soon saw a dark shape of a tower and the rest of an unfamiliar building that seemed to belong to the Night Class. When I had seen it earlier today as I had walked to my dorm, I had thought that it was slightly bigger than the Sun Dorm. This made me wonder, if the people living in it got some sort of special treatment of some sort, but I brushed that thought off. It wasn't my business and I had a cat as my main concern for now on.

I had thought of where to place Kei during the day, when the school would start and then decided to build him a small nest into my closet once I got back into my room. It would also be my advantage that Momo was probably asleep already and I wouldn't have to be so careful with hiding my cat. The other problem that I had was the food. I didn't have any cat food with me currently and I had been only lucky to have some oat biscuits with me. _The cat is_ _better to be grateful that I'm giving him some, considering that I was planning on eating them alone._

I sighed, getting Kei's attention. With my back against a tree bark, I crossed my arms to gather some warmth. "You know, I don't even want to know how this whole mess began. The school year was supposed to be peaceful, but I guess I had expected rather too much from this place." I smiled a little and gestured for Kei to come closer, he probably thought I would give him another treat so he almost bolted into my arms, when I knelt down. I buried my face into the softness of his fur and warmth, sighing happily. "Oh, well. I don't care how complicated this is going to get. At least I have you now."

"Meow." Kei seemed to get bored with me just hugging him so he started to struggle in my arms.

"Woah!" I quickly let go and he landed with the gracefulness of a cat. A frown tugged my features and I crossed my arms again unhappily. "Hm. Well aren't you a sweetheart. I just was pouring my heart to you and this is what I get?"

He didn't respond, obviously and only started walking again. This made me be even more upset and I sat down on the cold grass. _No more biscuits for you then._

Despite being unhappy with my cat, I watched as he walked around while sniffing the air and ground. He always did that, when we took him into new places and that meant that he wasn't displeased by the area. However, just as he seemed to take another step, his whole being froze and his ears rose higher.

I stiffened, getting up quickly and walking towards my cat. I had seen this reaction few times before. He would always become like this, when he would meet another animal, mostly a dog, and become alarmed by its presence. These memories also made me worry and wonder, if Kei was the only animal around the place, but my worst fear began, when his tail suddenly puffed and he started hissing viciously. Cold chills traveled down my spine and I took a quick look around myself, fearing that someone or the animal Kei was sensing was near. However, with the darkness of the night and with the faint light coming from the moon and stars, it was almost impossible for me to see anything.

"Shh! Kei! Shh!" I tried to sooth the poor feline with words, but he didn't change his demeanor and kept hissing and growling like something was about to attack him.

Deciding that it would get too dangerous to stay around anymore, I picket him up and thanked the force that kept him from scratching my arms off. I almost dropped my bag, as I started to run as fast as I could back towards Sun Dorm, but before I was even there I looked over my shoulder at where I had come from. Nothing was there expect for the shadows and the small, dark silhouette of the Moon Dorm, but that was the problem. _Had I seen things or did Kei just actually try to burn a building with his gaze?_

The cat in my arms had become quiet, but was still as a rock and small, barely noticeable growls made his whole body shake. Shrugging, I placed him carefully into the bag with my shaking hands. Nothing may have happened, but his actions had scared me quite a bit and even though I was so close to my dorm already my heart was moving quite fast from what happened and from the run I just made.

 _He must have just seen a bird in the distance._


	2. Chapter 2

**Their gates will close around you**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Meeting of a princely and the fear of a girl**

* * *

"It is such a shame that we aren't in the same class even though we are roommates." Momo pouted looking more than displeased. "I was looking forward of spending time with you, but maybe during the lunch we can see each other! I'm sure my friends would like to meet you as well."

"Sure." I adjusted my bag in my hands.

"Are you feeling alright? You seem kind of tired." Silver eyes looked at me worried.

"I was nervous because it is my first day so it was a little hard to get any sleep." I forced a smile, not wanting her to know that I was bothered by something.

When Momo had been in the bathroom at morning, I had quickly gone and checked on Kei who had kept sleeping in my closet in the middle of my clothes that I had decided to sacrifice. I also had left some biscuits so he wouldn't get hungry and even a small mug filled with water in it. However, I kept worrying what would happen, when he needed to go outside to take care of his needs. No doubt he would try and scratch the room's door open or tear apart the covers of the beds. I was even worrying that he might destroy my clothes too.

He was a very playful cat, but when he would get angry, his mood would change completely and there would be no telling what he would do, when that would happen. However, it wasn't like I could go and look how he was doing whenever I wanted, it would only create suspicion and I couldn't afford for that to happen. But what would I be able to even do anymore? I had decided to take care of Kei for as long as I could, which is for a year. I would write about it to my parents and would ask them not to worry, but there would also be that risk that they might still come here to fetch him. So should I just stay quiet? But they would still worry to where he might have disappeared to.

 _First my problem was the moving and now a cat._ I almost sighed exasperated, but then remembered that Momo was still next to me and could hear and see my every action. I had thought of telling her about our third roommate, but I wasn't still sure what she would even think of that. At least it was obvious that she wasn't allergic to felines or else she might have already noticed something. Though, it wouldn't be such a surprise, if she would find out about Kei during this week. He just wouldn't be able to stay in a closet for a whole week and I could only release him to the forest during the night, but I wasn't sure of doing that tonight. Last night was still haunting me.

"Um, Momo-san?" I started to ask, but then she chuckled and waved her hand dismissingly.

"Just call me Momo-chan! No need to be so formal since we are roommates and all."

"Right. Are there any dogs or wolves here?" Now that I had asked it out loud, it kind of sounded stupid. Obviously, if there were any would be some kind of fences around the dorms and there would be warning signs and all. Besides, I was sure that the silly headmaster would've warned me about them. He seemed stupid and childlike, but that didn't mean that he would watch someone get seriously injured. He had said it yesterday, too. "N-never mind. Forget that I even asked."

However, Momo still looked surprised and then raised an eyebrow. "Why would you ask something like that suddenly? Did you see something, when you were out yesterday?"

"Something like that." I answered waving my hand and cutting the subject to that.

"Ou. What did it look like?" Momo looked now curious.

 _Did she not hear, when I asked her to forget that I even asked?_ I bit my inner cheek and tried to avoid eye contact. "Won't we be late?"

"Don't try to change the- Ah! That's right! My teacher will be furious! Come on! Our classes are pretty close!" She started running immediately and I mentally cheered that she finally forgot what we had talked about. I would need to be more careful from now on.

We had already walked half of the bridge so it didn't take long for us to reach the wall and run through it to yard of the school. Momo was much faster than me though so I had some trouble keeping up with her movements. Today her hair was done in different style from yesterday and she had put it up into a high ponytail with a cute pink band decorating her head. I on the other hand just let my locks hit freely my shoulder blades and whip around my face. I had never really bothered to do anything else to it, expect to brush it a little at morning times.

Once we were inside the building, some other students whose classrooms were much closer than ours walked calmly through the hallways compared to the space that Momo was going. She kept dodging and apologizing to others that she almost bumped into like she had done it hundred times, but still continued running smoothly. I just went even slower and was trying my best not collide with others. The worst part was, when stairs came up and Momo strode over few steps like a professional, ponytail swinging with her pace.

When she finally stopped, I needed to run a little longer until I caught up to her. We were both breathing rather hard and I saw sweat running down the blondes face, taking some of the powder that she had put on her face this morning. It reminded me of how water drops would slid down the surface of the glass during rainy days, but held my mouth and concentrated on gaining my breath. _There is no way that I'll be late on my first day. I would be a laughingstock the God knows how long._

"Oh, no! My makeup is ruined!" Momo finally noticed the state she was in when a drop of now wet powder fell to the floor. It was no wonder that would happen, if someone would start running as fast as she had. She started to rummage through her back and pulled out a small mirror and the powder she had used before. "I can't go into class looking like this! I look horrible! Can you hold my bag for a while?"

"Sure." As soon as I take it, she starts fussing over her face and the light colored powder creates small clouds of dust every time she taps it on her skin. "Don't you think that you've already put on enough?"

Her silver eyes widened like I had just kicked a puppy. "Of course not! My skin is supposed to look much more tanner and healthier!" Even when she said that, the way the make up covered her face didn't look healthy. It seemed like she was preparing on facing cameras and lights like those actors whose makeups were almost as heavy as what Momo was using. Finally, she stopped and smiled again. "All better! Now hurry up and I'll take you to the class."

Before I even knew it, we were standing in front of a classrooms door, which was open and showing me what was inside. The back of the class was angled so the floor rose with stairs and brown desks that already some students sitting on them. I still didn't however see any teacher around so it was a good sign that I wasn't late. However, I wondered where I should also sit, when the bells would ring. I just couldn't stand idly by and wait, though people probably already saw that I was new in the class and were already staring and whispering towards me.

Like knowing what I was thinking, Momo gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry you'll be fine."

"Thanks." I said, but didn't feel reassure at all, my hands were already becoming sweaty.

"E-excuse me! Are you the new student?" I turned my head to look back inside, when a sudden voice was surprisingly close. In front of me stood a petite looking girl with a short, chocolate brown hair that touched her delicate looking shoulders with different lengthen strands. She had two, doe-like eyes that were the same color as her hair, but I saw a small hint of wine red in them, barely noticeable, but still there. They blinked as she smiled sweetly at me, if not a little awkwardly. "N-nice to meet you. I'm one of the prefects of this school, Cross Yuki."

I had not thought that anyone would come to greed me, but when I recognized the name, my mind went to that light haired headmaster I recently just met. "Oh, so you're Kaien-san's daughter?"

"Adopted." She nodded, still smiling. "Your name was Kazutso Michi, right?"

"Yes." I said and her smile widened, but all I could think was how much more sense it made that she didn't look like Kaien.

Yuki bowed. "Nice to meet you, then. I hope you will find the school a nice place, Kazutso-san."

The way she spoke was polite, soft and honest like with a little child and so I found myself smiling, too. "Thanks. I already do."

Momo suddenly stepped next to me and smiled sweetly. "Well! I have to go to the class now. See you later, Michi-chan!"

I waved to her, when she started to leave. "Bye! Thanks for showing me where the classroom is!"

"No problem!" She smiled back and then disappeared behind a corner.

"Is s-she a friend of yours?" Yuki asked and I turned to look at her.

"Well, she's my roommate and we only met yesterday." I answered. Though, Momo didn't seem like she would've minded to be called a friend already by me, but for me it would have felt awkward.

"You seem to get along quite well, though." Yuki looked towards the desks. "Would you like to sit with me and my friend?"

My eyes widened from her question, but she only turned back to me and smiled brightly, with no sign of doubt or joking. "Are you sure it's alright?"

She nodded eagerly. "S-sure! Come on now. The class is about to start." She turned around and started walking up the stairs, with me quickly following after her. My eyes went to her left hand, which had a single white cloth around it near the shoulder with academy's symbol in red colors that no other student wore. That must be the mark of a prefect.

I still could feel many eyes on me. I had had no idea how I knew it or how I felt it, but just one look at one person in the class and I was certain of it. I had come here two weeks later after the semester began after all so it was no wonder, but it was suffocating. Now I knew why the new students always looked so awkward and I silently apologized for them in my head.

 _Though,_ I looked at the back of Yuki's head, _she has managed to make this less uncomfortable._

She stopped next to one of the desks, looking more confident and comfortable than when she had introduced herself. "Yori-chan, I had like you to meet Kazutso Michi. She's a new student here."

The girl sitting near the end of the desk was reading a book and raised her hazel eyes from Yuki's voice. Then slowly, she turned her eyes to me and gave me a small, polite nod of knowledge. Her hair was shorter than Yuki's and had a bright brown color, but somehow similar to the hazel on her irises. Despite its length, it looked soft and had cute waves on it that ended to her chin. But despite having such large eyes like Yuki, she had such a blank look on her face, lacking any sign of innocence that the prefect next to her had.

If I wouldn't have known them, I would've though as the hazel eyed girl, Yori, as the prefect. She seemed to be far more serious type of person and even with the way she acted.

"I'm Wakaba Sayori, nice to meet you Kazutso-san." She said and the looked up at Yuki. "Is Zero late?"

"Oh, no. He just hasn't come yet to the class. You know how he is." Yuki said and then looked at me. "Zero is a prefect like me, I'll introduce you two later then. Knowing him he comes just barely before the teacher."

The bell rings and the students swarm in like bees, while talking and taking their seats in the class. I sit down next to Yuki who has Sayori on the other side of her. They both take out their books and pencil cases and I do so, too. The seat under me feels hard like in any other education place and the air is filled with the scent of chalk and papers. If I would close my eyes, maybe I would think that I was back in my old school, but then I probably wouldn't even want to open my eyes. But I had to say that the uniform I wore was rather comfortable, even though I still thought that the skirt was too short.

 _This first class is about history. Last year I got a pretty good grate from it so I should probably try it again._ After a while of thinking, my mood got a little sour, when I started to remember what classes I would have next. Math was one of the things that made me almost fail graduating from the middle-school. It was just so frustrating subject that I wasn't able to solve any problems that came as homework. They always said that I just needed to try harder and harder, but would that help? I think not, because how can anyone try, if they don't understand? _But if I fail it this year, I'm certainly toast._

I sighed softly and leaned my head against the palm of my hand, depressed. I just wished that the math this year would have some easy stuff so I could manage it through. Other than that I could do the other subjects well enough to get a passable results, though there was still the chemistry that had all those atoms and protons. Now that I thought of it, there were two subjects that I needed to be concerned about.

The door to the class opened for the second time, cutting me off from my thoughts and worries and making me look at the person who had stepped inside. A very tall boy with rather skinny appearance stepped in and closed the door after. The paleness of his skin showed the lack of sunlight that he had been using and his strange, straight, short silver hair's bangs hung loosely just above his eyes. For a moment I thought that they were also silver, but as he started to climb up stairs between the desks with his hands in his pockets, his eyes were the clear color of lavender. Three simple, silver piercings were shining sharply in the light and my eyes widened, when I saw a dark tattoo on the left side of his neck.

The first thing that my mind screamed was delinquent so I looked down at the desk, finding its surface very interesting. But then I had to look back up, when Yui suddenly called for the boy. "Zero! Meet the new student! She's is-"

"Not interested." The boy said immediately, cutting Yuki off in the middle of sentence and passing our desks.

My eyes followed him without meaning to, after hearing how deep his voice sounded, but the way he had sounded annoyed showed how his face held a scowling look. It also had been a little rude of him to ignore what Yuki had to say, but I wasn't really bothered that he had not wanted to meet me. Rather, it made me wonder how he had become a prefect, when he didn't even want to socialize.

Yuki's face flushed red and she pouted. "You don't have to say it like that! Sigh! I'm sorry about him Kazutso-san."

"I-it's alright." I smiled, when the brown haired girl looked apologetically at me, but then my eyes followed Zero again.

He sat down on the desk behind us and placed his bag down, but didn't take any books or cases out. He just sat there with elbow on the wooden surface and palm holding his head up, looking sour as a lemon. Then his eyes turned towards me and my whole body almost jolted, but I tried to keep calm and turned my head away awkwardly. _He's somehow scary, I almost got chills._

Finally, when the teacher came in everyone became more quiet and the lesson began. I was at loss at first, but Yui luckily explained some things for me quietly and I was grateful to her for that. But in the end I just concentrated on taking notes, I could then figure out more, when the school day would be over. However, I also kept glancing at the book I was using and took in how its edges seemed to be worn out. It had not just been bought from a shop, but from a flee market, since my parents had put almost all of their money to get me into a private school. _Things that parents sometimes did for their children could sometimes go to extremes_ , I thought.

Compared to the other students, who probably were from some better off families, I could be called the poorest of the group. But the more I looked at the school grounds, the more I found it disbelieving that it was the cheapest place I could be send. If my parents should've spend the money that they had saved over the years, they should've used it to buy a new house or perhaps even a car. When they used it all just to make sure I would be watched over, when they couldn't, it made me feel extremely guilty and at those moments I wished that I could have some relatives to take me in. I had aunts and uncles, but they were too busy on taking care of their own children.

As the lesson proceeded, I glanced at the boy called Zero and for the first time saw the same white cloth around his arm like Yuki's. But it was also clear that he wasn't paying much attention to the lesson, while others took notes he just read a book. His grades would definitely suffer from that, but he didn't seem to be the type to care at least one bit about that. Maybe it was because of his hair, piercings, tattoo, but everything about him told me not to get closer. It was rather obvious that he also didn't want anyone near. Nobody was sitting near nor behind him like there was a barrier around him, but Yuki had seemed friendly, when she had tried to talk to him so maybe they were more familiar with each other, being prefects and all.

Suddenly, Zero looked up and narrowed his eyes at me, like he had known that I had been staring for a while. His eyes were piercingly cold and the wrinkles between his brows deepened to the point of making him look menacing. A shiver of fear went down my spine and I looked away again, not looking back for even once during the whole lesson.

* * *

My feet carried me up the stairs faster than I could've imagined and I didn't stay to watch the beautiful lobby of the Sun Dorm. My hand was clutching the handle of my bag tightly and I could feel how my right side was starting to hurt from all of the running. I had made an excuse for Momo that I had forgotten one of my books back into our room and luckily she hadn't suspected a thing, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't need to be quick. First I had to check that everything in the room was still in one pieces and that Kei hadn't gone to have a bathroom session already, if he had this would take much longer than I would've expected.

Passing by few of the doors I stopped in front of mine and opened it quickly and closed it after I got in. The first thing that I noticed was how the room, smelled like Kei already and it made me fear the worst, but when I looked around I saw nothing destroyed so it made me sigh in relief. And as if knowing that I had been thinking about him, Kei came out from the half-open closet and ran towards me looking rather grumpy.

He started growling up at me and few pieces of biscuits that he had already eaten fell from his fur and to the floor. I sighed knowing what he wanted, but then yelped when his claws started to attach themselves to my brown school boots. I thanked my luck that the material was thick enough so that the nails didn't dig too deep, but they would probably leave some marks on both skin and shoes. I was used to the pain caused by cats, though, but I wasn't able to stay calm knowing my footwear's were suffering.

"Bad cat! No!" I took a step back and shooed Kei away, which worked, but he was still hissing. "Alright! Alright! I'll take you out! Just calm down!"

I placed my school bag down and quickly ran to my closet to get my bag. As expected, the cat's smell came from inside of it and my shoulder dropped from the fact that my clothes would be smelly until they would be washed. The water and the biscuits were all almost gone and on the nest that I had made from my old grey shirt was filled with white cat fur.

Wrinkling my nose in disgust I grabbed my bag and walked to Kei who still looked very pissed. Ignoring this, I grabbed him from the scruff of the neck and placed him in the bag. He started fighting against it of course, but I couldn't risk anyone seeing him, if I carried him in my arms under the broad daylight. So I swallowed the pain I felt, when his claws scratched my hands and zipped the bag closed, but leaving it a little open for air again. This didn't stop Kei from fighting, though. I loved my cat and all, sometimes he knew how to get into my nerves like a moody teenager.

After closing the door I walked down the hallway carefully, but winced almost every time that Kei started to scratch my bag from the inside. I knew that all the students were supposed to be in the main building, but I was still worrying that someone might catch me. Not to mention I had obvious red marks on my hands now and that would definitely wake up some questions from others. The skin around the scratches was red and irritated, while some pieces of my skin was tattered looking, but I bit my inner cheek, when I saw the crimson color of my blood. It didn't come as big amounts out from the wounds, but some of it was already sliding down my palm.

 _Don't worry. Keep calm and just take the angry cat out._ I inhaled deeply and then quickly started to walk down the stairs covered in brilliant red carpet from the front door up to the other floor. I could almost feel how soft it was through the bottom of the boots, but knowing that it wasn't the time to enjoy things, I opened the door to the outside carefully and looked around. It was quiet and the only thing you could pretty much hear was the birds and the rustling of the leaves. which was a very good sign. Though, it did nothing for my raising heart beat. Like the saying always goes, it's calm before the storm and I wasn't very keen on idea of getting caught.

When I started to think about it, I remembered Kaien saying that those who would break the curfew rule would be caught by the prefects and be punished. But when I imagine being caught by Yuki, it's pretty hard to believe that the consequences would be too harsh. Zero was a completely different matter, though. He had been scary enough by just being quiet and sitting in the classroom and the mere idea of seeing him corner me with Kei and having the dark aura of a devil made violent shivers run down my spine. It was almost too unbelievable that the angel like girl and the demon like boy had to work as a team everyday.

Descending down the stairs, with the same scary image of the silver haired boy, I ran towards the forest. But now during the daylight, I decided not to head towards the spot I had gone last night. Who knew, if that something that had scared Kei wouldn't still be there and I didn't need more scratched from the upset feline for a while.

The shadows of tall tress were soon covering my form and even Kei in the bag started to become much more calmer and only let out small growls that vibrate against the small of my back. A small smile spread on my lips, when I noticed this and then felt my shoulders relax from the tension I had not noticed before. So feeling more safe, I unzipped my bag and Kei poked his head out immediately, ear twitching with curiousness this time. _It's astounding how his mood changes so quickly._

"Meow." His eyes looked up at me with a tilt of head and I raised an eyebrow.

"What? This is still the same place so don't worry." Getting more urgent on getting back quickly, I placed the bag down and picket the cat up. _He must still not be quite used to this new place's scent. Maybe I should've gone back on that same place like yesterday?_

With careful steps, Kei softly started walking around and sniffing the air like during the night. The way he did it in clear light made the action look cuter than before and I smiled again before sitting down under an unfamiliar tree that's trunk was rougher than the last ones. I wasn't sure why I liked Kei, when all he sometimes did was cause trouble and hurt me, but on many occasions he had made me happy. The wounds on my hand still stung, but the sight in front of me was much too adorable for me to hate the poor creature. He just kept chasing after a small fly that had suddenly appeared and I could feel a large grin form on my face rather quickly.

However, I soon started to feel bothered again, when I remembered that I still needed to inform to my parents about the situation. Mother was definitely back at home already and starting to notice that Kei was nowhere in sight. So writing a letter needed to be done quickly before even father would start to freak out. Both of them also cared for our pet and especially father because the feline seemed to favor him out of the three of us. It definitely had raised my father's ego during the years to some extent.

Suddenly, Kei froze and from instinct I leaned forward, ready to stand up and go to him. It was like what had happened last night. The stance, the silent growls that came out of the white brown male cat were all the same and I directed my gaze towards where he was looking at. But because I had no animal senses, all I was seeing were green trees and their brown trunks that were different sizes and shades. The louder growling of my cat though told already that it was something else entirely and an unease feeling started to grow in my stomach faster than I could've counted seconds. And I had thought that it would be safer in this place, well it obviously wasn't that way anymore.

"C'mon Kei." My voice was a soft whisper and I carefully stood up and approached the stiff cat. I needed to get him back into the bag and at the same time run back to the dorms.

Ignoring me completely, he let out a loud 'meow' and then bolted towards the trees. It was something I had not expected so I just kept standing there dumbfounded for few seconds until I finally snapped out of it and went after him. His white form was easy to spot in the middle of all the green colors and I thanked my mother for the first time that he chose him and not one of his darker colored siblings.

"Wait, Kei! You can't go there! Come back! Come back I say!" My shouts were obviously in vain, but I just wouldn't stop doing it. I couldn't spend the rest of the day in the forest and search for him. Momo and Yuki would certainly notice my absence and inform it to others until the word would reach the headmaster's ears. I didn't even want to imagine to what kind of position that would bring me to.

The branches of the trees and bushes kept whipping against me, as I ran past them, but being too desperate I didn't stop running. Kei had already gained quite some distance between us and it was a miracle that I was even able to still see him. It was also probably thanks to how few obstacles there were to slow anyone down, but it didn't certainly help on catching the animal I was chasing. An angry scowl between exasperation and anger crossed my face and I almost tripped, when I let my thoughts wonder to what would happen, if he would soon get injured by something or some creature that he seemed to be running towards to.

 _What if it's a bear!? Or an actual wolf!?_ The forest felt suddenly much thicker and scarier and for few moments I let my quick running space slow down and the cat disappeared from my vision during that opportunity. Not seeing him anymore in front of myself, fear started ripping me in two and it made my legs move again. Few new ends of bushes branch scrapped against the wounds on my hand and I bit in the yelps of pain that followed after. Kei would need to be grateful, if he even understood what I was doing for him, despite all the trouble he was causing.

"Kei!" The forest suddenly ended and I froze from what I saw in front of me. It was a tall wall, the same kind that surrounded the dorm and the tips of the trees on the other side could barely be seen. It was a sight I would've not expected on seeing so soon after a while of running, but it made some things more sure. Kei wouldn't be able to go further away from here and as I realized that I heard the sound of his hisses again. "Kei! This is _not_ funny anymore! Let's go-"

The breath in my throat felt like it was knocked out of my lungs, when I turned towards the direction of the sound. As expected, Kei was there looking very ready to attack, but it was not the cat that made me feel like the whole world was collapsing, but the _person_ I saw there. A tall person, with a golden colored, short hair stood further away from me and was looking down at Kei. However, as if just then noticing my presence after my yelling, the person looked up and I once again felt like brick of walls had just crushed me.

The two pairs of eyes were the clearest shade of green that I had ever seen in my life. They were framed by dark lashes that closed creating shadows on pale and high cheekbones, before rising again so that the jade colored irises could look at my form again. The boy, obviously near my age, had broad shoulders, but still delicate looking form that was standing rather too relaxed despite the growling feline so near. In fact, a smile graced the angel like features after only about five seconds and the boy to my utter shock waved happily like we were just standing in the middle of some kind of park and not a forest.

"Good day." His voice was clear and bright, not too deep, but pleasantly so and I felt my cheeks strangely grow warm. He was obviously attractive in every way, from his neat looking white shirt to his brown pants and black shoes. Even the way his perfectly combed hair moved softly on the wind seemed unreal and for a moment, I thought that he was some kind of mirage, a piece of my imagination.

The sound of Kei's hisses drew me back reality and the gravity of the situation finally sunk in, hard. Utter panic and cold sweats filled my whole being and I quickly ran to Kei and scooped him up, before taking two large steps back with caution. The boy hadn't moved, but looked quite confused and curious as he blinked at me or rather down at me, he was really tall.

My hands held the stiff cat, who luckily wasn't injuring me any further, like my life depended on it and my mind was a scattering mess. _What to do!? What to do!? He saw Kei! Now everyone is going to find out! This boy is obviously a student or what else he would be doing here!? Why is he even here!? No! I have to come up with an excuse or should I just flee and leave him? NO! He'll definitely then tell about this, you idiot! But what should I do then!? I'm scared! Stupid Kei! Why did I let him stay in the first place!?_

"Um, miss?" The voice snapped me back to reality from my inner panic attack, however, I inhaled sharply, when I noticed that the boy had come even closer. His whole face was written with concern, even when Kei started growling deeply up at him. His pair of green eyes didn't even spare a glance towards the cat in my arms. "Are you alright?"

 _Get out of here,_ was what my mind kept screaming. "I-I-I..." My whole body felt like it was shaking like a leaf. "P-please don't tell anyone about the cat!"

"...Pardon?" He tilted his head like he was confused of what I said, with his light colored bangs almost starting to cover one of his eyes.

"This cat isn't mine!" The words just came out of my mouth before I could even think straight and I started to feel like I was still running, breathing was suddenly much more difficult. My voice just kept rising and my stuttering got worst with the panic that also kept bubbling out. "I'm just l-l-looking after it so p-please d-don't tell anyone! I'll pay y-you later f-for it so please don't say a word! P-please!"

I had never acted like this before, unless you counted the small play I had done back in elementary school. At that time too, my mind had become blank and I had only let my body do the work. And even back them, I was scared and feeling totally lost of what to do. This boy would definitely be able to tell that I was lying straight away and then think that I was strange and a crazy girl who just ran out of the forest after a cat and started rambling things. He seemed to be like one of those rich boys from the way his whole being looked and no doubt that he was a popular one, too. There was no way he would listen to me.

As all the hope was leaving me, the only thing that came up in my mind anymore was the faces of my parents and the trouble I was causing them. How did I end up with a decision of keeping Kei with me in the school anyway? I must have truly become crazy, if I thought that it would lessen their burden. This was already adding it and the mere thought of what would come next was drawing all the color off of my face. I didn't think that I was able to hold the cat in my hands anymore.

"Alright, I won't." The voice made me flinch, but I still looked up at the boy in shock of what he had said. A small closed-eye-smile was on his face and when he opened his eyelids, there was nothing else, but warmth in them.

I blinked. "W-wha- P-pardon?"

"I said that I won't." He said again and then linked his arms behind his back, when he noticed that I just kept staring at him with wide eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"N-no!" I almost clapped my hand against my mouth, when my voice rose again. I just couldn't believe that he had just said that he wouldn't tell anyone.

"You've a very cute cat." He said suddenly and made me blink again. His voice was honest and so was his face that kept smiling down at the feline in my arms, but Kei didn't seem to be at least bit happy to be near the boy. He just kept hissing and growling till his fur stood up in a threatening way that made me almost want to drop him. "He sure has a lot of energy."

Instead of uneasiness and fear that I had experienced earlier, just those few words out of his mouth had made me raise an eyebrow in confusion. "T-thank you?"

The boy chuckled good-naturedly, the sound was soft. "I was really surprised, when he just came out of nowhere."

"Ah, I'm sorry about that. I don't know what came over him." I said and looked down at my pet. He had never acted like this around people so I couldn't understand why he was doing it now.

Suddenly, I realized something that should've been obvious. Right now, every student from the Sun Dorm was in the main building, but this boy was not there. He was standing in front of me between the wall and the shadows of the forest that covered us, with casual looking clothes and not the black uniform that I had seen many males wear today. _More importantly, why is he here in the first place?_

Frowning, I looked up at him again. His green eyes rose from Kei at the same time to meet mine and the words came out of my mouth rather boldly. "Are you skipping classes?" His eyes widened a little and I felt like I had hit the nail on the spot so I continued. "If you're, you should stop. I have only been here for a day, but I know that one of the prefects is rather scary so getting caught by him someday wouldn't seem like a good thing."

Green eyes stared down at me for a while, silently. Honestly, it made me a little uncomfortable and worried that I might have guessed wrong, but hiding it I stared right back at him, getting a chance to see even more of his features. I had met many blond haired people in my life, but I had never seen the kind that he had. It was like made out of silver gold, but had still the brightness of yellow on it. Honestly, he started to remind me of one of those prince characters from storybooks that parents read to their children. And because of how more I saw his attractive looks, the more self-conscious I became for he did not even look like human the more you stared deep into his jewel-like eyes.

Out of nowhere, he smiled again and then leaned his face closer. I took a small step back to create some space and Kei's claws dug through the fabric of my sleeves to graze my skin. But the boy didn't seem to mind both of our reaction and instead smiled wider. "So you're new here, huh?"

"Yes?" I felt my brows knit together from the way he was looking at me. It was like he found something to be amusing.

"If you're worried about Kiryuu-kun, I appreciate the concern. However, I think I'll be able to handle him. Though, I shouldn't even be around this area." He seemed like a kid, when he started to rub the back of his head sheepishly. The smile he wore showed his pearl white teeth that seemed something impossible anyone to have.

 _Kiryuu? Is that Zero's last name?_ I wondered, but then I froze, realizing yet another thing. "Oh, no! I'm going to be late!"

I whirled around and ran as fast as I could towards the forest, but the voice that called from behind made me stop. It sounded very cheerful, like its owner seemed to be. "I hope we can meet again!"

However, when I turned around, the golden haired boy was gone and all I could see was the shadows of the trees that moved against the tall wall. I tried looking around, but he was nowhere to be seen and that made me frown, until I felt Kei shift in my arms. The cat was completely relaxed and its chest rose and fell on each breath, he was asleep. _He must be tired, then?_

Shaking my head with a slight smile, I started to walk towards the Sun Dorm and the place where I had left my bag, but my mind kept wandering back to that strange boy I had met. I felt uneasy, knowing that he knew the secret about Kei, I felt scared that he might tell about him to someone, but most of all, I felt terrified, because I knew nothing of him and he already knew something about me. I felt like the walls around the dorm was not something to protect me anymore, but to keep me in a cage.

* * *

"Michi-chan! Are you alright? What happened to your hands?" When I immediately met my roommate in front of my classroom, she took notice my bandaged hands. Others that passed us, luckily kept things to themselves and continued down the hallway.

"Well, I tripped, when I came back from the dorm. There were pretty sharp rocks on the ground and this happened." I said and felt a little sharp tug of shame and regret hit my chest. I felt somewhat bad for lying to someone who had been very welcoming to me, but I also didn't want to tell her the truth that my cat that was not supposed to be in here had almost clawed my skin off.

"You should be more careful! Who knows what might happen to you, when I'm not looking. I can't risk of losing my new roommate!" Momo pouted, but then smiled brightly again. "Oh! We must hurry so we can see the Night Class! I can't wait to show you Aidou-kun! We've got only twenty minutes left!"

"Um, isn't that more than enough time?" I asked, holding back chuckles that threatened to come out, when I saw the blond girl in front of me look like she would burst out from happiness.

"Nonsense! That's too little. There are already others waiting at the gates and I can't risk of standing behind all of them! Or else Aidou-kun won't notice me!" She rambled on and then gestured for me to follow her. "Hurry up already!"

I sighed, not wanting to run again after what I had been through earlier today, but then decided to follow the energetic girl down the hallway. She kept constantly checking her face and hair through a small mirror that she had used during the morning and it made me wonder just what kind of person this Aidou was. Most of all, I couldn't understand why there would be others near the gate of the Moon Dorm. _Does it mean that they all get along? Maybe that's why Kaien had started laughing yesterday._

Momo kept beaming, as we walked towards the door that kept being opened and closed as other students were going out. All the girls especially seemed to be as happy as the grey eyed girl walking in front of me and to my surprise they even started adding makeup and checking their hairs as well. It was so strange that I couldn't stop looking around myself and the other people like I had just stepped into a labyrinth. I was confused and lost of what exactly was happening. It was like all the girls were preparing to meet their idols or something like that.

The yard was completely empty, but when we were nearer the doors that lead to different dorms, there was the sound squealing and excited chatter. I wasn't able to tell what it was properly, until the doors of the Moon Dorm were finally in my line of sight. Though, what I saw made me almost want to back away, because the whole door had a herd of girls of the Day Class blocking the entrance. However, Momo wasn't bothered by this and only ran towards them, probably forgetting that I was even there and I had never been happier to be ignored like that. I was starting to fear that if I took one step too close I would be crushed by the feet of others.

"H-hey! Stop p-pushing! Go back to your dorms!" A voice yelled and it was obvious from the tone that they were struggling with something. My eyes wandered to where it came from and soon I saw a familiar brown hair peeking on the front near the door.

 _Yuki? Well, it makes sense that she would need to be here to calm down this chaos, but where is Zero?_ I turned my head around the place, but I saw no silver hair anywhere. _Shouldn't he be helping Yuki right now?_

"You're not being fair, Cross-san!"

"Yeah! Stop trying to get all of the Night Class to yourself!" There were furious shouts from among the crowd and I started to pity Yuki for a moment, for being so close to the angry looking females. Though, I wasn't really understanding why they sounded all so upset.

"Like I have said, this is my job as a prefect! Ah! I said stop pushing!" Yuki yelled out, but that didn't seem to have any effect on the squealing girls.

My hands flew up to cover my ears from the loud noise, but with no success was the loud screaming blocked completely. I kept seeing the top of both Yuki's and Momo's head at some points, but other than that there was nothing more than a mass of humans there further away from me. Honestly, all of that started to scare me so against the voice telling me to wait Momo I turned around. I _just think heading back to the dorm is the safest option._

The screaming got even louder, if possible, when I was already near the other road that would lead to the Sun Dorm. Out of curiosity and annoyance, I turned my head to face the direction where I had come from to see the wooden doors open. The screaming made the air vibrate and I took a step back and covered my ears again. Despite them being obviously excited, the girls started to scatter and make a path in the middle for the people that came out of the gate. Though, when I saw them I couldn't even call them 'people' anymore.

Each one of them had flawless looking, smooth, white skin, but not as white as the uniform that had the same design as the Day Class students. Hairs were combed back, styled or simply left like they were, but none of them looked messy, but clean and neat. Beautiful eyes with all elegant shapes and sizes were either looking at the Day Class girls or simply what was in front of them, but no matter what they did the act was made flawlessly and with grace of unhuman beings. Despite that beauty, I felt a strange chill travel down my spine, when one of them caught my eye.

The same blond hair was as soft as I had first seen it and two pairs of green eyes were facing someone else and talking to them, but I couldn't mistake the owner of all those features. It was the same boy that I had seen in the forest today, but instead of the clothes that he had been wearing, there was a white uniform sitting nicely on his shoulders and giving him a prince-like image with that smile of his.

Without even thinking, I whirled around and started to run towards the Sun Dorm, not looking back for even a second. I didn't want to seem like a coward, but even if he would recognize me, which he obviously would, there was no telling what he would do. Despite him smiling so kindly and warmly and that he had told me that he wouldn't tell anyone of what had happened, I didn't trust him one bit and the fact that he was in a Night Class made me feel even more uneasy.

Kaien had told me that both Night and Day Class had different curfews that needed to be followed strictly, but that boy had been in the Sun Dorm's territory during the daytime and that was more than suspicious. He couldn't have gone there through the bridge, because someone would've obviously spotted him and there was a wall surrounding the dorms so there was also no way in the laws of physics that he could've gone through or over it. Didn't that mean that he would be able to actually sneak into the Sun Dorm without being spotted? That sounded like he was plotting something and it was even worse now that he knew my secret!

My hands were shaking, when I opened the door and soon started to run along the stone bridge. The sound of my boots on its surface came out as quickly paced tapping sounds and even the sound of how the books and pencils moved in my bag reached my ears. _Just run and get back to the room! You'll be safe there!_ Was what I tried to reassure myself in the depths of my mind, but it didn't stop the urge to hide inside the closet with Kei disappear.

 _I must never see him again!_ Was also something that I repeated, but as a loud yell that almost escaped from my mouth. With my hands clenching, I felt the stinging of the wounds return and how they opened again.


	3. Chapter 3

**magi13: Thank you, for being the first one to give a comment on this story. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.**

* * *

 **Their gates will close around you**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Gold and silver**

* * *

"Son of a- Ow! Alright! One more!" I hissed, placing the last bit of plaster on my palm that was covered in angry looking scratches all over. A few of them had already opened and were bleeding again too and I mentally hissed back at Kei who had calmed down back in my dorm. This was already the fourth time that I was visiting the school's nurse and she hadn't looked at least bit surprised by it. She had even left the first-aid kit on plain sight so that I could use it, too. "There! All done!"

As I was about to sit up, my eyes caught a sight of my boots that had rather small, but obvious scratches on them. _I swear, that cat is going to be the death of me soon. Maybe changing his food from biscuits to fish would help? But where in the world could I get something like that?_ I sighed for the hundredth time. I had been in the school for less than a full week and was already feeling exhausted. At night it was getting even harder to sleep, when I kept fearing that my cat would cause a noise that would wake up Momo.

As for the lessons, I almost fell asleep during them and that was not good. I tried getting more sleep, but I had no time for that nor intention of letting my guard down so that the cat would get out of the bag, quite literally. Though, tomorrow would be Friday and Momo had informed that most of the students went during weekends to their homes, she also was going. At least then I could somehow catch up to my sleep.

Though I was happy about that, a fact that Momo had seen my scratches was worrying the heck out of me. She only questioned them once, luckily, but seemed to be worried for me. Despite how cute and sweet she was, I had discovered that she was...kind of dense and obvious to some things, but I guessed that I at least had one advantage with that.

I glanced towards the clock on the wall and noted that it would still be quite some time before the Night Class would come out of the gates. _I still better do things quickly._

Placing the first-aid kit back to its place, I pushed my sleeves back till they reached my treated palms and then checked that they wouldn't be that obvious. Once I was satisfied with how I looked, I grabbed my bag and went out to the empty corridor. However, I didn't even need to blink twice before noticing through the window how few girls were running across the yard. This had happened the whole time I had been in the Cross Academy and I was getting quite used to it and knew what was happening.

 _The Night Class sure is full of beautiful people, but does everyone have to drool over them?_ I shook my head and then continued walking. I could take on Momo's continuous talking about her dear 'Aidou-kun' and all that, but when I saw how others also reacted to those people I got chills. It was sweet, in a way, but there should be a like how much you can admire other. Just other day, I saw a cat fight between two girls who were fighting over some boy from the Night Class. It had become one of the experiences that made me want to keep my distance from such things.

Once I had climbed up the stairs covered in a red carpet I walked towards a door that had a glass painting on top of it. There was a golden star with white lines inside of it and the rest of the glass around it was blue as the dark ocean with smaller stars. It was quite beautiful and brought a smile on my face like encouraging for me to continue walking the path ahead. The academy was beautiful from both inside and out, but there was just something about the glass painting that was different. It didn't look old or grand, but cute and new and it made me feel that I wasn't currently living in a someplace that was impossibly far from my home.

"The library will be closed soon for the Day Class." The woman behind the desk said, as soon as I stepped in, her thin face looking up at me from over few books.

"I know. I just need to do something quickly." I said and she nodded before going back to her books.

I walked past old shelves that were filled with line after line with pages that had many things inside of them. If my father would ever visit here, I didn't doubt that he would find something that he wanted into his shop. Even I had been impressed from the sight of the old stuffy things that seemed to be dusted frequently. Though, I hadn't had any time to waste in it.

Finally, when I arrived to the furthest place in the library, which was right next to a shelf filled with fantasy and literature books, I spotted a few desks lined right next to high windows with maroon curtains. Behind them the sky was the color of a very pale pink and yellow, telling that it was almost for the time for everyone from the Sun Dorm to return.

 _Urg! I need to hurry! Why didn't I do this much earlier!?_ Quickly, I placed my bag to the table and then took out a paper and a pen before sitting down myself. Words flooded into my mind, but my hand wrote them quickly.

 _Dear father and mother_ , was how I started and I almost cringed how formal and old-fashioned I sounded. Until now I had not once written a real letter to them. Who needed that, when you had a phone? Shaking that thought off I continued writing, despite an urge to start over.

Of course, I asked things like how my parents were doing and such and then told them that I was doing fine, also apologizing that I had not send a letter earlier. However, telling them about the feline who had managed to sneak into my luggage was going to be the hardest part where I stopped thoughtfully. I wasn't sure, if I wanted them to take Kei away, because it gave me comfort despite its mood swings sometimes and because I didn't want them to waste money to come and take him back. But I shouldn't also forget what would happen, if Kei would be discovered.

Honestly, I had not looked over the rules of the academy so I had no idea what kind of punishment would come from having an animal in the dorms. But whatever it was I was afraid that it would make me leave the school for good. That would cause more than enough trouble to my family and I wasn't going to allow that. _Maybe I should just tell them honestly._

Sighing in defeat I wrote what had happened, but also tried to make it sound reassuring. They could freak out, worry and maybe be mad, but that was up to them after they would get the letter. If they insisted on taking Kei back, I wouldn't be able to stop them. Mother would also probably call me an idiot after hearing my reason for not doing anything sooner, but I had to bear with it. However, I also wanted them to think of their work and if this was going to disturb it. They couldn't at least come for months because of how busy schedule they would have. This would only be a hindrance.

 _I start to sound like some heroine from an overly cheesy novel who doesn't think of herself._ I sighed again, running my hand through my hair, while mumbling. "Maybe I shouldn't send this, but...Argh! I give up!"

I twisted the paper into two and frustrated took my bag, walking through the shelves again. I still had a night to think things over, but first I needed to go to the dorm and make sure Kei was okay before doing my homework. Today the teachers had been merciless, when giving them to the class and the bigger problem was that I didn't know how to do them. I had tried to not fall asleep for most of the time so I was completely clueless. Momo could probably help me, but I wasn't sure how good she was in math.

The sound of my feet running echoed in the long hallway and the final lights of the sun were illuminating the sky with bright red and orange this time around. Most of the sky however was already turning dark and this made me hurry even more. The mere thought of running to one of those Night Class people just made my stomach drop. Sure, they were all very pretty, but they also had this air of superiority to them or maybe arrogance or...

The point was that I didn't feel comfortable knowing that they were around. All of them were obviously from some sort of wealthy families and they probably had that kind of attitude, too. Though, that blond boy I had met had certainly been strange, if not creepy. His reactions had been so weird and opposite what I had expected from him. Maybe he was dense like Momo, but much more than she was? I just hoped that he would keep his word and not tell anyone about Kei or I really would wish that earth would swallow me up.

 _Oh well, at least there isn't a chance that I'll see him again. As long as I avoid his dorm's gates, I'll be fine._ I jumped down over few stairs till I reached the firm ground of the first floor and ran towards the doors. But then, before I could've reached them, I scratched the itchy feeling on my palm and then hissed, when an old wound I had not covered opened and stung.

I bit my lower lip, my steps slowing on their own. I sighed again, not liking the small pain. "I'm stupid. I'm stupid..."

I continued muttering that line under my breath and opened the door. The cool evening air brushed against my flushed face that had warmed up from running and I sighed feeling it refreshing against my cheeks. My feet met with the hard stone path and my shoes created small sounds with their bottoms against it. _It's too late to go back to the nurse's office now. I'll just wash it, when I get back._

An army of shrieks suddenly became closer and I winced, recognizing them instantly. The girls of the school were all gathered in front of the door and because of that I didn't see Yuki anywhere. I was starting to pity her more and more and it didn't help that I had discovered the fact that Zero was always late for this. I wished that I could at least get to know the girl and her friend, but my whole time seemed to be owned to my cat and Momo and not to mention my school work where I was no genius.

The gates started to open and that was my cue. I started walking briskly towards the Sun Dorm, not looking towards the source of huge screams for even a second. How anyone could scream that loud every day was a mystery to me. Even my ears were suffering enough from the distance I was in and it wouldn't be a surprise, if someone would become deaf soon.

"Aidou-senpai!"

"Ichijo-kun is so wonderful!"

"Kyaaah! Idol-kun!"

"Hey! You! The girl with black hair!"

"GYAAAH! ICHIJO-SENAPI!" The loud scream from more than one girl made my eardrums tremble and I covered both of them feeling annoyed. Everyone could hear that on the other side of the lake.

"Takuma-kun!"

"Wild-kun!"

"W-wait!"

"Ridiculous." I muttered under my breath, but then started to feel a little relieved that the screams died down gradually after a second. _Wait. Why are they so quiet now?_

Foot steps, belonging to a one person, were clearly getting closer to me, but I still kept on walking. Though, I felt my stomach drop, when a voice yelled out: "Wait!"

 _It couldn't be... No. Just keep walking. You're almost there._ My feet walked more briskly than before, but it didn't stop the person behind me from also trying to catch up. Sweat fell down on my back with every second the person became closer and the hold I had on my bag tightened to the point I couldn't feel the blood moving on my fingers anymore.

"W-wait! I-Ichijo-senpai! You can't go there!" Yuki's voice yelled out from further distance.

"Sorry! This won't take long!" The voice I didn't want to hear yelled back apologetically.

 _No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He can't be coming towards me._

"What are you even doing!? Takuma, come back here!" A voice of an unfamiliar female yelled.

Just as I was about to walk through the gates a shadow was casted from my left and I froze, when it came in front of me. A pair of white pants and shiny dark shoes were blocking any other view on the ground and it felt like my heart had jumped out of my throat at that second. I tried to round the person in front of me, but they also moved in sync with my movements and desperation started to fill me, when I felt like a trapped mouse.

"It's you! I thought that you looked familiar in the distance!" The voice was very cheerful and happy, but I was far from it.

 _I-it really is him._ Slowly, my head started to rise from its position and my eyes trailed up from feet to a chest that had a white jacket of the uniform till I had to crank my neck back to meet a pair of green eyes. They were as bright and jewel-like as I remembered them and they lift up even more, when they locked with mine. _How can he look so happy in a situation like this? Is he here to blackmail me? W-what if he is going to make fun of me in front of everyone?_

The last thought made me remember that we had an audience and that weren't alone. I didn't dare to look back towards the direction I had come from, when I started to hear angry yells that the girls didn't seem to be holding back. Their words made me want to disappear in an instant.

"Why is Ichijo-kun talking to her!?"

"Who does she think she is!?"

"Waaah! Takuma-kun is talking to her!"

"It's already bad enough that Cross-san tries to have the Night Class to herself!"

 _Takuma?_ My eyes didn't leave the blond boy's who was obvious to the commotion further away. _Is he making them hate me on purpose? I'll have a herd of angry fan girls after me!_ I didn't even have to think twice, when I finally managed to go around him and step out to the bridge.

"Wait! I wanted to talk to you." His words made me stop on my tracks against my will and I looked at him over my shoulder. Once he saw this, another smile spread on his lips, but the next words he spoke in whisper made my whole body freeze like ice. "Can we meet again and with your cat?"

I stared at him with wide eyes and half-open mouth, but when I found my voice it came out as a stutter. "W-w-why?"

 _What is he planning?_

"Eh? Why?" He repeated my question, looking confused all of sudden. Then he placed his hand under his chin, thoughtfully. "Well, I just thought it would be nice to play with him."

"W-what?" I stared at him dumbfounded.

"Or maybe I just want to get to know you better." He smiled brightly again and I swore there were sparkles around him. Then his widened in shock like he had just realized something important. "Oh! I forgot to ask your name. I'm Takuma, Ichijo Takuma."

"Ichijo-san." Both of us surprisingly almost jumped, when a voice resembling a growl appeared. "You're way past your boundaries."

"A-ah, Zero-kun." Takuma smiled nervously back at the silver haired boy who had appeared out of nowhere, but didn't look faced or scared from the glare he received from lavender eyes. "How are you?"

I took this opportunity to whirl around and run towards the dorms. I heard a surprised yell coming from Takuma and Zero, but other than that I only heard my beating heart. I couldn't deal with all of this, especially now that the angry and bitter prefect was involved of all people. I had to just get to the safety of my room and try to calm down, though I also owned Momo an explanation, when she comes back.

However, the thing I was most worried about was what I would do now.

* * *

"You knew Takuma-kun and didn't tell me!?" As I expected, Momo looked displeased and glared at me with hurt and betrayal.

I was sitting on my bed and she was standing near her closet like she didn't want to be near me. Her face was clearly red under the heavy layer of makeup and it made me feel a sting of hurt as well. I hadn't done anything wrong and it was rather Takuma's fault anyway that I was in this situation. What had he even been thinking, when he confronted me like that under everyone's watch.

"I-it isn't like that! I just met him once and I have no idea why he would talk to me again!" I tried to explain, but she didn't still look satisfied.

"Oh yeah? Where did you meet? It seems like it was somewhat special, if he came to talk to you like he did!" Her voice rose and octave higher and I flinched from how furious she started to sound.

"I-I- It doesn't matter! He's just a stranger to me! I d-didn't even know his name until just minutes ago!"

"See! You're avoiding of talking about it! You're just trying to get his attention!"

"L-like I told you, it doesn't matter! Why are you so upset in the first place? Shouldn't you be this angry, if that guy who you talk about would have been the one speaking to me?" I asked, trying to find a way to make this conversation to calm down. If we continued like this, there was a chance that Kei would become upset in the closet.

Momo's face twitched from my question and she avoided eye contact with hands crossed across her chest. "Whatever. I'm going to take a shower."

Her angry face didn't melt as she walked towards the door to the bathroom and shut it loudly after her. Through it, I heard her clothes shuffling and how they fell to the ground like she had slammed them down and finally the shower was turned on.

 _This certainly isn't going well._ I laid down on my bed sadly and turned to my side. Just when I thought I had found a friend, she started hating me because of a misunderstanding. I wanted to fix it, but no matter what I would probably say she wouldn't listen, just like now. Not to mention what other students would do to me tomorrow was only happening in my imagination, but it was enough to make curl into a ball. _Those fangirls wouldn't go as far as to hurt me, would they?_

I bit down on my lower lip and closed my eyes tiredly. All of this was giving me a headache and it made thinking even harder for me. However, there was nothing I could do now anyway, so I shouldn't probably be too depressed of it. At least, I hoped everything would calm down at some point, but would it truly? My fingers started to play with te fabric of the bed's covers thoughtfully and when I opened my eyes, I sat up. I still had some homework that needed to be done.

Opening my bag, I pulled out a few books and my pencil case and sat down to my chair before switching on a lamp. Its light warmed my patched hands like the rays of the sun and I grabbed my pencil, but didn't start writing yet. Between the books I had taken, was the letter I had been planning on sending to my parents, but hadn't. It was a little twisted from one of the corners because how I had showed it into the bag, but other than that it looked completely fine. The address of my house and street were all written down on its surface, ready to be send.

 _Should I really ask them to take Kei away?_ My eyes went towards my closet. He was possibly asleep already and it was quite a miracle that he hadn't started hissing after all that yelling just now. _Him being here does make things more complicated, but..._ The face of Takuma smiling came to my memory as well as his request. _Doesn't he remember that Kei tried to scratch his eyes out? What a weirdo._

The sound of someone knocking the door softly snapped me back and I placed the letter down. I looked towards the wooden thing confused of who could be here at this time, but I quickly stood up when the knocking continued. As soon as I opened the door I came face-to-face with a brown eyed prefect who smiled at me nervously.

"G-good evening, Kazutso-san." Yuki said.

"Good evening, Cross-san...Can I help you somehow?" I asked after a while of awkward silence.

Her eyes widened after a while of silence, like she had just remembered something. "T-that's right! Um, are you perhaps friends with Ichijo-senpai?"

"No." My answer was blunt and this made her eyes widen again.

"But you two-"

"Today was the second time I ever saw him in my life and I only got to know his name today. He's basically a stranger to me." I resisted an urge to groan from her confused face that became even more confused by my every word. What was so hard to get about this? _More importantly, why does she want to know?_

"Are you sure that you haven't seen each other more often?"

" _Yes._ Only two and that is it." I sighed, ruffling some of my hair. "What is the big deal anyway that we talked? I get it that he and the rest of the Night Class are like school's idols, but it shouldn't be forbidden to communicate with them, right? Unless that is really a rule. If so, I apologize now."

"I-it isn't forbidden or anything, b-but..." Yuki turned her eyes to the side, looking rather stiff all of sudden.

"Is he somehow important, more than the others from his dorm?" I asked curiously, my eyebrows knitting together from how silent she had become.

My voice seemed to snap her back. "Well, he is the Vice-President of the Night Class."

"What!?" My mouth worked faster than my mind could've thought and the word came out as a reflex. I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth, but it was too late, Yuki was staring at me with startled eyes. "I-I'm sorry. It's just that came as a quite surprise."

Her features softened and she gave me a soft smile. "He doesn't really sometimes give an impression as a someone like that, does he?"

"Not really." I muttered under my breath, hardly able to imagine that same happy-go-lucky male actually having a position like that. "Anyway, I'm sorry, if I have caused some other problems by talking to him. But honestly, I don't yet know the rules well around here."

"Y-you don't have to apologize!" Yuki waved her hand dismissingly.

"By the way, does Ichijo-sa-senpai get punished?"

"He seems to only get a talking from the President of the Night Class. This has never really happened before so I guess he will get away with just a warning."

"Wait. Didn't you just say that us talking to each other wasn't a bad thing?" I frowned again.

"I-it isn't, but - H-how do you f-feel about the school, by the way?" Yuki asked, obviously avoiding the subject at hand.

My frown only deepens in confusion. The conversation starts reminding me of one of those books where there is a really huge secret or mystery. I'm not sure, if Yuki is so obvious about wanting to keep quiet on purpose or that she just is a really poor liar. Then my mind suddenly goes back to Takuma and if possible I start to feel more uneasy from the whole situation. Things were already messy enough for me, but that guy just made things much worse and complicated. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be having these conversations and this all has happened in a less than a day.

As for Yuki's question, I honestly didn't know what to think of Cross Academy anymore. I guess, I had thought too soon about liking it, just because people had been nice at first. Now Momo hates me for some reason and I will probably have some angry fan girls glaring at me everyday. I don't even know how I'm going to be dealing with Takuma from now on. _God, if you're listening this, I have to endure this a whole year so give me strength._

"It's fine." I lied through my teeth.

Yuki's lips twist up to a warm smile, looking sincerely happy. "That's good to hear."

"...Do you know where there is a mailbox, by the way? I would like to send a letter to my parents." I asked after a while.

"You would n-need to go to the town, there is one there. But how about we'll go there tomorrow, together I mean? You aren't familiar with it, right?" Yuki tilts her head innocently, but her voice has that tiny hint of shyness in it.

My eyes widen a little from surprise that she's actually offering something like that, but I also feel a little happy that I won't have to go alone. "Really? A-aren't you busy?"

She shakes her head with a smile. "N-not at all. Besides, it's my duty as a prefect to help other students."

I nodded, a smile also pulling my face up. "Thank you."

"I-it's no big deal." A blush covers Yuki's cheeks and she looks down sheepishly. "H-have a good night."

"You too." I said and then she excused herself.

I watched her go down the hallway until she disappeared behind the corner and then I closed the door. My eyes went immediately to Momo who had come out of the shower rather quickly and was drying her hair. Her long nightdress was as pink as the towel and the ruffled sleeves kept slipping down her arms that had still some water glittering in the light. The hem kept letting out fluttering noises, when she walked to her desk and took out a brush, but then she paused and looked at me from the corner of her eye.

Her skin was pale and had a rosy color to her cheeks after a warm water, but her eyes were cold and sharp. Now that all her makeup was gone, everything, from her eyelids to her lips looked bare and untouched. She didn't look bad like that, just average and normal, but also bitter as her irritation was clear as day on her stiff features. She turned her grey eyes back to the desk and brushed the wet strands harshly, water splattered all over the wooden surface.

For some reason, I almost took a step back from her. It felt like for a moment she was going to hit me with that brush, but decided against it. _I wish that I had a different room now. She wouldn't be that angry that decided to attack me during the night, would she?_ I quickly went inside the bathroom, when that thought came over me and almost slid down to the floor after I locked the door.

There was steam covering the mirror and the warm yet wet air smelled like sweet flowers. Some drops of water were on the floor, forming obvious foot prints here and there, but what caught my attention was that something was sticking out of the toilet. It was a light green towel with cream yellow butterflies on it and once I saw this my jaw almost met with the floor. The towel wasn't just anyone's, it was mine and the fact made my whole mind grow blank for a moment.

I quickly shot up and grabbed the sticking end of the fabric before pulling it up. The other end however, dripped with water and I almost let go in disgust. I felt my face color change in different ways like from white that drained warmth to red that returned it. In fact, the emotions were bubbling within me so strongly that I almost stormed out to demand an answer from Momo who had obviously been the one to do such a thing. The fist still holding to the towel was clenched and shaking and the sound of the drops hitting the water surface made me try to calm down.

 _At least she didn't throw it into a dirty water. Just stay calm and clean this, then go out and complain. Just count to ten and take deep breaths._ Slowly, I went over to the shower, with the towel in my hands and turned on the water before starting to wash it. Luckily, my shock and anger mostly died down after a while, but that didn't mean that they were entirely gone.

"Just how can anyone do this?" I muttered under my breath and then sighed heavily. _Momo was so sweet, but this drastic change is kind of scary._

I closed off the water and then squeezed the water off from the soaked towel. It splashed against the floor and dripped down from between my fingers warmly. Finally, I placed it over an empty spot next to a curtain to dry off the rest of it over the night. Though, I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't take a shower because I wouldn't have anything to dry with. Waking up much early at morning didn't also please me, but that seemed to be the only option.

Closing the lights and the door, after I left the bathroom, I stepped into the dark room. Momo must have already gone to sleep and from the unclear sight of a dark puddle on the bed I was right. Though, she hadn't probably fallen asleep just yet and knowing this I carefully tiptoed towards my bed and took my pyjamas from under the pillow. Even if Momo was on the other side of the room and under her covers, not making a sound, I was afraid that a beast would be woken soon.

Once I had gotten changed, I laid down and pulled the cover over my head. Warm air soon surrounded me, but a shiver was sent down my spine from the sensation. The scent of Kei's fur on my clothes clung to my skin and I bit my lower lip, regretting even more that I hadn't taken a bath just now.

 _Oh well._ My eyelids closed heavily from exhaustion. _Too tired to think anything now. I'll just have to figure things out tomorrow._

* * *

The walk towards the class was agonizing, embarrassing and terribly slow. No matter how many times I kept glancing around or looking up from the ground, everyone, literally, everyone were whispering or sending looks towards me. Most of them wore the faces of disbelief or scorn and it made me sweat like a crazy from nervousness. I had never liked attention and I certainly didn't like it now either. Especially, when it wasn't implying any good one.

From somewhere near the stairs, I caught a sight of Momo with a group of girls. I thought that I had seen them mostly with her over the week. All of them wore makeup and had their hair done nicely which wasn't much of a surprise. The other thing that they had in common with each other, was how they send sneers and rude hand gestures at me that shocked my mind. Even Momo was doing it and for the first time since I woke up, our eyes actually met.

She held her chin up in a challenging way and then turned her back to me once more. In a way, I was kind of glad that we hadn't become all that close to this point or her behavior would've hurt me more. Mostly I was just having difficulties understanding her anger and the way I was ignored. _If this goes on I'll have only Kei to talk to...and maybe Yuki and her friend S-sayoki? No, Sayori. But could I really become their friend just like that? Wouldn't it be awkward at first?_

I turned around a corner and just then some girls passed by and I swore that I had been walking to the left side to avoid them, but one girl had just at the last second hit my shoulder with hers. It caught me off guard and almost made me fall, too.

"Watch where you're going!" She hissed loudly, but I didn't turn around to face her and only continued walking, my head lowered. "Oh, ignoring me, are you?"

The echo of snickers and silent laughers was all around the place and I bit my lower lip in silent anger. At that moment, I wanted nothing more, but to whirl around and yell at them. But I swallowed those thoughts, and started to climb up yet another set of stairs. Causing a scene wouldn't be such a good idea anyway, but I was feeling so frustrated from the way everyone was acting that I wanted to punch something or rather someone.

The memory of Takuma's smiling face made my anger almost halt, but then it came back when my mind kicked in. No matter how innocent or sweet looking he was, this was all his doing. The mess he had created was causing me trouble. And yet he had not realized that this would happen, when he came to talk to me? I doubted that greatly, nobody could be that clueless, especially when you had herds of fan girls swimming all over you almost every day.

 _And he dared to ask us to meet again? Oh, please! He can wait in that forest all night and day._ My face almost twisted into a frown, but I hid it and finally walked inside the class, which atmosphere was no different than in the hallway. The girls huddled into small circles whispered to each other and almost everyone stopped talking, when I entered.

I took a deep breath and walked towards my seat calmly. Each step getting more lighter, when I got closer to my destination. I really needed to sit down for now and it became even more clear, when I finally did and a giant sigh almost came out of my mouth. My hands were shaking slightly and I linked my fingers together for comfort, trying not to look up towards the people who directed their stares towards me.

"Kazutso-san?" A soft voice asked and I turned to my head to the right to see Sayori standing there. "Are you alright? You look pale."

My fingers stopped playing with each other from relief. For a moment, I had though she might have also been upset with me, though, she didn't strike as a fangirl to begin with. "I'm fine."

She blinked her eyes once. It was like she saw right through me, but then sat down. "Well, that's good to hear."

"W-where's Yuki?" I asked the first question that came into my mind. I might as well start a conversation from somewhere.

"She's coming with Zero. They had something to talk about so I just came ahead of her." Sayori answered and then glanced at me with a thoughtful look for a while. "So, you know Ichijo-senpai?"

It was lucky that she hadn't spoken out loud so that everyone could've heard her, but some of the girls closer to us seemed to fall silent. They were obviously trying to listen our conversation now that Takuma had been mentioned.

I wanted nothing more than to hit my head on the desk, but I only let out a sigh. Showing to the short haired girl that I wasn't fond of the subject. "Listen, I have met him only two times. Only on the second time, that happened yesterday, I found out what his name was."

"I'm sorry, if I upset you. I shouldn't have asked." Sayori replied softly, it was quite a polite way she spoke.

I shook my head with little guilt. "No, I-I shouldn't have sounded like that."

"But you're upset." She hit the nail on the head and I stayed silent as an answer. "Maybe avoiding Ichijo-senpai and other Night Class students would help you."

I placed my head on my palm. "Yeah. I have done that for the whole week, but he just...came out of nowhere. I-I'm not even sure why.."

"Don't you find him attractive?" The question would've made me spit out, if I had been drinking something at that moment.

"W-well..." I honestly would've said yes, but there was something in my mind blocking it. The reason of my ability not to answer was because I was angry at Takuma. Sure, he had looked like a handsome prince from fairytales at first, but now that I kept thinking about him, I wanted to yell and hit him. All I felt was just uncomfortable boiling in my stomach and how my face would heat up from irritation. "Honestly, no. Not anymore at least."

"Yori-chan! Kazutso-san! Good morning!" Yuki suddenly appeared out of breath right next to us. Her brown hair was sticking around the place, as she sat down and tried to fix its state.

"Morning." I smiled finding her state quite amusing and she smiled back.

"W-we made it j-just in time." She rubbed the back of her head happily and just over her head, I saw Zero pass by. He didn't look happy like every day, but now his frown seemed deeper. "A-anyway, what time do you want to go to the town today?"

 _I almost forgot about that._ "We can go right after the school ends, but I need to go and change my clothes first. Is that alright?"

"Sure. I-is there a-anything else you want in town?"

"Not really. I'll just go and drop the letter."

"I-I see."

"You're going to the town?" Sayori asked curiously.

I nodded reaching out for my books in the bag. "Yeah. I need to send a letter to-"

"W-where did y-you get t-those!?" Yuki's question was quite loud, so that the entire class must have heard it.

I froze completely and especially when I saw where her eyes were keeping their line of sight on. I had managed to hid half of my palm with my sleeves so that the plasters on my wounds wouldn't be that obvious, but the brown haired prefect had chosen a simple moment to see them when my sleeve slid back. She mustn't have yet noticed them, which was something I was feeling proud of, at least I could do something right for change.

As I was about to tell her my lie, I heard someone walking from upper line's desks and suddenly they came right behind me. A hand grabbed me from the arm painfully and I yelped from surprise and shock, when I was pulled up to my feet. The class started making noises and I even heard Yuki gaping at the person who suddenly started dragging me away. The hold that they had on my arm was painful and harsh that the the blood circulation was almost cut off, or it did, but I didn't know.

"H-hey! L-let me go!" I tried to struggle and looked up to glare at the tall person, but words died in my mouth when I saw that it was Zero pulling me along.

"Z-z-zero! Stop t-that!" Yuki also yelled without fear, covering from shock and then ran after us.

 _Where is he taking me?_ I almost fell when we turned sharply to the right, after getting out of the class. He didn't look at me and I could only stare up at the side of his face with confusion. The way he was frowning in anger was kind of imitating and I almost shrunk down from just seeing it. The was his hand was gripping mine was also scary, I had never really been treated like this so I was wondering with blank mind what to do. At least, I couldn't get out of his hold easily that was for sure.

Few students that passed by stared after us with wide eyes and I meekly tried to ignore them. There were still people in the hallway and we were only gathering attention with the way we walked. Someone who was prefect was holding me by the arm looking like he wanted to kill someone and it didn't help that Yuki kept running behind us with an uneasy look.

She asked Zero over and over again to release me, but the silver haired male didn't even blink from her words. I could barely even stand, if he hadn't hold onto me, but I couldn't say that it was comfortable. The feeling was starting to disappear from my arm and turn into numbness, with each pull he made. I tried to make him loosen his strength that he put into his grip, but it was like he squeezed my arm even tighter.

Finally, I had had enough and struggled again. "Stop it! That hurts!"

Yuki became even more bold, when she heard me cry out in pain and grabbed a hold on the tall male's shoulder. "Z-zero, please! That's enough!"

"Shut up!" I almost jumped out of my skin, when he finally reacted somehow. Even the other students around took careful steps back.

 _Great, now rumors will spread._ I almost wanted to groan, but another sharp tug to the right made me swallow that small sound. Zero pushed me into a room and I stumbled in because of the force he had used. The blood finally started to move along my arm normally and I rubbed the tender spot where a bruise would definitely form sooner or later. When I raised my eyes I noted that I was in an empty, but small classroom that was surprisingly clean despite how empty it seemed.

Yuki managed to sneak her way in before Zero slammed the door and locked it from the inside and at that point on I was already starting to become quite scared. I didn't know what he wanted and even if Yuki was there to stop him, I doubted she could actually win against the much larger boy. We were basically both trapped and as I thought it that way I started to take cautious steps back.

Like sensing my pathetic attempt to escape, Zero turned to look at me sharply, his lavender eyes boring holes into my brown ones. I took another step back, when he started to move towards me and then reached out to grip my arm again. Seeing this before it happened I ran up behind a desk, but it didn't stop him from following me. Fear made my legs move quickly and I round another desk, before running down the stairs towards the door again.

However, I couldn't get far because he was faster and had a hand on my shoulder before I even knew it. "Stay put."

"W-what i-is your p-problem!? D-don't touch me!" When I tried to push his hand away he grabbed mine again and looked down at the plasters on it with narrowed eyes.

Yuki, who had stood on the side quietly, walked to us and looked at Zero with a slight glare. "Y-you're taking things too far! Kazutso-san is obviously scared so-"

"Just shut up! Those beast might have already done something and you're just giving a blind eye to it!" Lavender eyes looked now furious and with one swift move one of my plasters was ripped off.

"Ow! Seriously let go!" I yelled trying to pull away without success. _This guy is crazy._

He paid no mind to me or Yuki anymore and only lifted my palm to look at the injuries. Perfect lines of red scratches decorated my skin like yesterday, but most of them were already healed pretty well, over the night that is. Zero frowned down at the sight and I felt my heart speed up from the way he was looking at them. _H-he can't already know about Kei, right? He hasn't paid any attention to me for the whole week so why now?_

Yuki's own brown eyes were also looking at my hand with a frown, then she looked at me and then back at Zero. "S-see? Nothing i-is wrong, so let her g-go." The silver haired male glanced at her and then at my hand. He seemed unsure for a moment, but then slowly his hand slackened and I pulled my own back, closer to my chest, which held my beating heart behind the muscles and bones. Yuki sent Zero a look and then came in front of me with apologetic eyes, she placed a hand to my shoulder gently. "I-I'm s-sorry about h-him. Zero didn't m-mean a-any harm to y-you, Kazutso-san."

I only nodded shakily, not knowing what else to do and just then the bell rang. "W-we should get back now."

Zero didn't wait and only walked past us, slamming the door after like when we had entered. I bit my lower lip and looked down at my palm, now that the plaster was gone, the tender flesh of the wound was open to the air. _What a freak._

* * *

 **Our dear Michi seems to have it rough from now on, but I'll tell you dear readers that this is only the beginning of the bumpy ride. She hasn't even been through the worst yet. Out of curiosity, I'd like to ask from all of you something: What do you think of Michi?**

 **I'm always curious to know how others find my Oc and what sort of feelings they get from them. Don't forget to leave reviews and all that other stuff. I'm on a vacation now for a full week so I might update my other stories, too. However, you'll never know. I always take my time while writing and new ideas just keep coming up.**

 **Until next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**magi13: It's good that you find my story interesting. Please continue giving it your support.**

 **CyberQueen: Thank God I got my Oc right! I always want them to react like normal people and their actions must be affected by their personalities, too.**

* * *

 **Their gates will close around you**

 **Chapter 4**

 **An awkward ride**

* * *

"Kazutso-san, um..." Yuki walked over to me, as soon as I had finished packing my books. She had her hands close to her chest almost in a nervous manner and her brown eyes kept glancing around the class that was being emptied by the other students.

Her behavior made me immediately feel slightly worried of what she would have to say, but I tried not to show it. "Yes?"

She looked away again, but then our eyes met. "T-the h-headmaster wants to speak w-with you."

At the moment she said that, I was just about to put the pencil case into the bag, but my hand stopped and I froze. That had definitely not been something I had expected and wild thoughts for the reason of this summon were going around inside my head faster than I could've counted to ten. There had never been a time that I had been called to the school's office like this, never before has even the headmaster of my old school called me either.

A blond hair came then into my mind among the chaos of my thoughts and a frown tugged the corners of my lips. Takuma wouldn't have already told Kaien about Kei, right? Oh, I knew I shouldn't have trusted him!

The fear of getting expelled was already making me dizzy, but then Yuki seemed to notice my state. "I-it's nothing serious! H-he just wants to k-know how you've b-been s-since c-coming here."

My shoulders immediately relaxed from reflects and I silently let out a sigh under my breath. For a moment, it had felt like my heart had stopped. "I-I see."

"B-but after it, we can head to town." Yuki smiled broadly and I managed to give a one small one back.

Suddenly, I realized that I couldn't remember the way to Kaien's office. "Could you possibly tell me where K- headmaster's office is?"

"Eh? You don't know where it is?" Yuki blinked, but then her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. "S-sorry. I t-though that he had s-shown it t-to you o-or something..."

"He didn't." I admitted, feeling a little stupid for not asking him to show me around on my first day.

"Oh." And then we both fell silent with an awkward atmosphere.

So, he didn't say anything after all. A guilt for accusing him at first started to scratch my insides, as I remembered how sweetly Takuma had smiled at the times we had talked. It hadn't looked like he had been a dishonest person to begin with, but I had still become suspicious of him. No doubt he was already a sweet looking guy, however, despite this I still didn't feel convinced that he could keep a secret. I mean, he also looked like those obvious, empty airheads that would say things without thinking. Not to mention he had done something unthinkingly, too.

My eyes slid down to my desk to see a thin carving of a 'BITCH' on its surface. It was permanent and wouldn't come off until somebody would change the desk. Honestly, I had been really hurt, when I had read it for the first time and I still got a little ache in my heart from it. Who could even do something like that was rather obvious, since I had received many death glares and looks from the girls of the class. Yori and Yuki were the only ones that didn't do that, though. I had been so lucky, when I had started sitting next to them.

A flash of silver moved from the side and I looked towards Zero who was walking towards the upper door that was wide open. I unconsciously reached for my newly patched palm and felt a shiver run down my spine from the memory of him ripping the old one off. Maybe I should confront him for it or tell Kaien, but is it worth it? Now that I think about it, it wasn't anything too serious. He just gave me a scare.

"Kazutso-san, Zero isn't such a bad person." Yuki's voice made me look at her again instead of Zero. Her eyes were soft and she had a small smile on her face. "He may look bitter and grumpy, but he just doesn't know how to express himself."

I almost raised an eyebrow from her words. All of that just made the silver haired prefect look like a misunderstood puppy from some drama, which I couldn't imagine perfectly. He definitely didn't send an impression of a good person, but somehow Yuki didn't look like she was lying. Wait a minute. Could she be...?

"Do you perhaps have a crush on him?" The question came out as soon as it entered my mind.

Immediately, Yuki flinched. Her eyes wide and shocked and mouth hanging open. "H-huh?"

"Good question. Even I'm not sure." Yori said with a thoughtful tone behind her brown haired friend. Both Yuki and I almost forgot that she was there at all because she had been so quiet until now. Her already large eyes looked at the female prefect, expecting an answer. "Well, do you like him that way?"

"W-what are you saying!? Of course I don't!" Yuki's voice rose a bit and I almost covered my ears from it.

Huh, I'm actually disappointed from her answer. As I thought of that, I felt a little embarrassed that I had even asked something like that out of blue without thinking. "Sorry, Cross-san, but I thought you were from the way you talked about him."

"It's only natural since they're childhood friends and adopted siblings." Yori said.

A little surprised rose in me from the sudden new information. Yuki had told me that Kaien wasn't her actual father, but I would've never imagined that Zero would have that kind of relationship with her and the school's headmaster. It seemed really unlikely that they were even that close given the difference in personalities. Though, that wasn't something that was any of my business.

Sayori seemed to make an expression that almost showed the same disappointment that I had. "Though, I had also thought that they had already moved on with their relationship."

"W-what relationship?" Yuki muttered and looked completely lost and flabbergasted, but then shook her head. "A-anyway, shall we go Kazutso-san?"

"Sure. Bye, Wakaba-san." I said, seeing that the subject was over and then followed the petite girl out of the classroom.

Nothing had changed since the morning. The students still kept badmouthing me behind my back and sent me looks that were the nastiest I had ever received. It was astounding how much some people could actually hate someone that continued showing it for a full day. I had once been really angry at my mother, but I couldn't manage being like that for a half of the day. Really, if I had known that speaking to someone from a Night Class was going to cause something like this, I would've tried sneaking back to my dorm with a disguise or perhaps I would've also bleached my entire hair blond.

Though, the students also seemed to direct their looks towards Yuki who continued walking, obvious to everything happening around her. I started to think that she was doing it on purpose, but that thought started to seem more unlikely when she looked at me and smiled sweetly. It reminded me of one of my friends back at home who had similar personality to Yuki's and by that I came to conclusion that the brown haired girl was too innocent. She must be pretty obvious then, too.

As we walked towards the headmaster's office, I started to think too much again. What would I even say to Kaien, for example. That the school was full of mentally damaged students who were bullying me? That he needed to change one of his prefects that had some attitude issues? Or perhaps he wanted to discuss about that blond, happy-go-lucky idiot who was the source of my current problems?

Seriously, I think I'll get grey hairs for all of this stress. My shoulders slumped down. Seriously God, are you punishing me or something? Kei is already scratching me to the point of insanity, isn't that enough?

"Here we are." Yuki said and brought me back to the real world. We were both standing in front of a simple brown door and she knocked against its surface with her knuckles. "Headmaster, I've brought Kazutso-san."

"Come in!" Came a cheerful answer almost instantly and Yuki opened the door revealing a simple, cozy room. Kaien perked up behind his desk as soon as we came and waved his hand. "Yuki! Michi-chan, too!"

"Hello, headmaster." I said simply, not knowing how else to address him. He seemed like a type that didn't care for titles or anything too formal seeing how he was currently dressed in a simple sweatshirt. Seriously, is he really running this school by himself without it collapsing?

Kaien waved his hand dismissingly. "Oh, no need to be so formal with me, my dear. You can call me simply Kaien-san or Kaien."

"H-headmaster, I d-don't think that's appropriate, sir." Yuki said, her face completely serious and matching her voice.

"Aw! Yuki! You're such a good girl!" Kaien gushed and I frowned, finding his behavior slightly disturbing. Though, Yuki didn't look like she was even bothered by his over doting way.

She turned to me and smiled again. "W-well, I'll be off now. I'll see you by the school's outer gates at 5pm. Is that fine?"

"Yes. See you later, then." I smiled back and waved as she excused herself, but when I turned towards Kaien, I cringed visibly. He looked ready to burst into tears.

"My sweet Yuki and precious student have already started a friendship..." His eyes watered even more and he pulled out a napkin out of nowhere. "This makes me so happy!"

I tried my very best not to back away, but I did anyway and this movement didn't go unnoticed by him. His smile fell for a moment and I felt a little relieved from that, he wasn't so hyper anymore, but I started to realize that my actions had been rude and felt hear gathering to my cheeks.

"Is something wrong, Michi-chan? Are you not feeling well?" Kaien asked with genuine concern lacing on his tone.

The question caught me off guard and I almost frowned. I had been quite sure that he would be offended and not worrying over me. "No, I'm fine. Um, so what did you want to see me for?"

"Oh! That's right! Please, you can sit down." His cheerfulness returned quicker than ever and he gestured towards a comfy looking couch near his desk. I did as he suggested and took a place in the middle of the soft thing. To my surprise, it was more soft that I could've imagined and almost yelped, when I thought I might sink into it. Kaien placed his head on top of his palms and his smile brightened. "So, how have you been?"

"I'm well, thank you." Next thing I know we'll be talking about weather.

"That's good to hear. How about your roommate? Have you gotten any new friends?"

My fists clenched naturally and I glanced down at the floor for a second or two, before looking back at the light haired male. "About that. Is it possible that I could...change my roommate... or not have any at all?"

His eyes widened and his smile dropped again as soon as it had appeared few moments ago. He looked comical and blinked owlishly at me like he hadn't heard my words at all. "Eh?"

You can't be serious. I wanted to groan, but bit my tongue and continued. "I would like to change my roommate."

"Did you have an argument with her?" Kaien asked, still looking a little taken aback.

"You could say that." It was supposed to come as a mutter, but he heard it clearly because his eyebrows knitted together into a frown.

"Is it serious?" He asked carefully.

The events that had happened since yesterday evening played in my head. Momo and me yelling at each other, her ignoring me after that and my towel in the toilet. The night and morning in the suffocating silence and only waiting for another strike from her like she could explode. It hadn't helped that I kept worrying about Kei making a noise that would reveal him. Then there were those morning incidents as well.

Honestly, I could've cared less what a bunch of strangers thought about me. Especially over a reason as silly as talking to one of their idols, but that didn't mean I was less bothered by it all. But the carving on my desk had made me fear what those fan girls would be up to next and I was not too eager to know.

"Yes." I said with eagerness in my head for him to consider my request. My fingers were already playing with the hem of my skirt.

Kaien linked his fingers and stared intently at me, which seemed out of character for him, but then he closed his eyes and let out a breath. "Well, I can look for another room for you, but there aren't any roommates left. And one single room for a single person would cost more than a shared one, you know."

The way his eyes were looking at me was pointed and it took a little while until I realized what he was trying to say. My parents had already used quite a lot on my education in the academy and on my uniform and room, so adding more to their bill would only cause strain on them. They would need to work more and who knows when they will collapse from too much stress and overworking themselves. But they also wouldn't do something like let me drop out from school. So everything looked like it lead to a dead-end.

Staying with Momo would be the best choice, if I would look from my parents perspective, but it wouldn't be so great for me. A shiver went down my spine, when the towel incident came back to me once again. It shouldn't have been such a big deal, it did make me angry, but it also informed that Momo meant business.

Though, there was always Yuki and Sayori who I could talk to. Even though I wasn't sure, if they could be counted as my friends. We hadn't really talked to each other that much during the week and the exchange from the end of the class had been the longest conversation I had had with them. They weren't luckily fan girls and wouldn't bother me like the others.

If things would turn out much worse than before, I could always tell Kaien about it and he could try solving the problem for me. I wouldn't start pretending that things were okay when they weren't. Though, I was a little worried how exactly Kaien would try solving things, considering that he didn't seem to have any backbone and on top of that he was an overly doting father who wouldn't even be able to kill a fly. At least that was how I saw him, but I had to admit that he seemed very serious as he was looking at me. Those strange colored eyes didn't have any softness in them, but were calm and calculating.

"There is no need for that. I'll try talking to my roommate." Though, in truth, I wasn't sure, if I would do that.

"That's good to hear." Kaien's smile returned, but it was small and soft and not that wide and bright one. Also, his eyes stayed the same, as the calculating ones. "Yuki told me that you'll be going to the town today."

"Yes. We plan on leaving at 5pm. Is there a curfew that we should follow or something?" I asked and he shook his head.

"As long as you'll be back before it gets too dark, it's all fine. I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up! She already goes out with her friends! The joy of being a parent!" He started to ramble on and on about Yuki again and returned back to what I had expected him to be.

Still, I wasn't as uncomfortable as I had been at first. I got some things straightened up and now it felt like a little load of rocks had been lifted from my shoulders. Who would've thought that talking to this lolicon would make me feel better?

"By the way, I also heard that you're an acquaintance of Ichijo Takuma." Kaien said rather easily, sounding truly happy, his smile even wider.

Something felt like it dropped inside of me as soon as the name was mentioned and I felt how my insides started to boil from irritation. I had heard that name more than enough times already and I didn't need another reminder for my sour mood. "Yes, something like that." My voice was steady, but even I could feel and hear how it lowered to a sound that resembled irritation. "Excuse me, but can I go now?"

"What? But we've not even fully started this conversation!" Kaien's smiled didn't vanish and I grew vary of what he was about to say or ask next. "So, is Takuma-kun nice?"

This time, my eyebrows knitted together in confusion and slight horror. The way he was asking that almost made me think that he was planning a matchmaking. "He's... alright? I guess?"

Kaien nodded looking even more happier. "That's good, that's good." However, his smile dropped suddenly and he looked frightfully serious. "Michi-chan, you must understand that the Day Class and the Night Class have little contact with each other, right? And your interaction with Takuma-kun, as I have heard, was-"

His words made something build inside of me and before I even knew it, I cut him off. "Headmaster, in all honesty, I had no intention and will have not any desire to have any further interaction with Ichijo-san. Not then and not in the future." My voice was firm, surprising how it hadn't cracked or that I had not even spelled something wrong. I felt irritated and because of it I probably found more courage to be bold. "Now, can I leave?"

Kaien didn't say anything. He stared at me, with surprise in his eyes, but then it disappeared and his face morphed into an expression I couldn't read. "Michi-chan, are you being bullied?"

Every muscle in my body tensed, but I tried keeping my expression neutral. My heart beat was quicker than usual and I feared that it might be heard in the room. "No."

"That's a relief!" Kaien sighed and placed a hand on top of his chest. "With all the admiration the Day Class has for the Night Class, I was worried how they would react, when you talked to Takuma-kun. But as long as any problems have not risen then I supposed everything is well. Oh, I also hope that you'll have fun, when you go to the town today."

I forced a small smile on my lips and then stood up, giving a little bow to his direction. "Thank you."

Thank God this is over. My back is covered with sweat.

* * *

"Alright, so the mailbox is this way." Yuki smiled and took few hurried steps ahead. "Is there anything else that you want to do here?"

"Not really." I said and glanced at the street around us. Honestly, I just wanted back inside the walls of the academy as soon as possible.

The town had very old styled buildings, I hardly saw any cars or mobile devices and that was already something. It was beautiful, charming, with cute shops and flowers on windowsills, but there was only one thing that made me feel out of place. It was how people dressed and just how the whole atmosphere felt like.

Currently, I was wearing long, white socks with baggy and black shorts that hung from my waist. The short heels of my black leather boots with silver zipper made some metal sounds with every step and the black jacket with white lines on the sleeves was half open to reveal the lone white T-shirt under it. I looked like a city girl that I was and Yuuki looked completely different that it was slightly scary.

Her cloak was long and plain beige colored with simple round buttons to keep it around her petite frame. Under it she had her school uniform and nothing else, but despite the way she dressed it wasn't any different from people around her. They all had clothes that didn't stand out and the colors they also had were similar to Yuki's jacket. Or simply to put there were only brown, dark green, black, soft grey and etc. colors around. No bright yellow or shockingly pink were anywhere in sight and that unsettled me. It was almost as if I had gone back in time.

I didn't also seem to be the only one to notice things like that. Because some people had already glanced at my way and few old ladies even obviously pointed towards me a little while ago. It would've been so much better, if I had been swallowed by the ground than having to suffer all the staring again. Just when I got out of the academy, even the elder people had to give me looks and make me uncomfortable. The letter was almost crushed in my hands from how harshly I had clutched it near my chest.

Suddenly, I almost stopped walking, when I thought of something. "Cross-san, don't you have to patrol today, too? Doesn't the Night Class have lessons today?"

"Oh, y-yes they have, but Zero can handle them until we get back."

"You really didn't have to come to show me around, if you were busy." I said, a little worried that she would have to hurry back and miss her duties.

She must have caught my expression, because she stopped and turned to fully face me. Her voice was almost panicking. "I-it's not like that! T-this shouldn't take long and it's n-not even d-dark yet!"

"Are you sure? We can hurry, you know?" I truly didn't want to feel guilty for keeping her away from her duties, but I also wanted to get to my dorms before the Night Class would be in sight. The sun had already begun to set down and its lights on the sky were gentle orange and yellow.

Yuki seemed to think my suggestion for a moment. "Well, alright. But only if it's fine with you."

I smiled, liking her sweet attitude. It was quite hard to sometimes meet people that were modest and polite and thought of others, especially if you had been born in a city. But Yuki seemed to be raised well and it was an everyday mystery to me from now on how she didn't end up like that foster father of hers.

So, that's how we ended up hurrying towards the mailbox in a full sprint. I hadn't even realized how fast we had tried to run until I started to breathe harder, following Yuki who knew where we were exactly going. She was also far ahead of me and surprised me yet again with how fast she was. Her feet moved rather quickly and when her large brown eyes glanced over her shoulder at me she seemed to almost let out a laugh before looking back ahead of herself.

 _She almost looks like a child,_ was what I thought after seeing the glint in her eyes. They had been bright and full of mischievousness that I almost couldn't believe it to be Yuki who had sent me that look. _Maybe she did get something from Kaien after all._

As I thought of that childish man, the conversation that had happened in the school started to bother my mind. I just couldn't find a good reason for all of things that I didn't understand and it was mainly concerning the Night Class. I wasn't planning on digging deeper than I had to, but I had to admit that I was a little curious of them. It was just really strange and suspicious, the way students were separated between night and day like two different species. All people in the Night Class were obviously very beautiful and fair, but that was the thing that made me confused. Was it just coincidence that they were all like that?

A shiver went down my spine, when I thought all of their pale skins. Had they all some kind of medical condition that kept them away from the sun or were they just taking care of their appearances like that? That would certainly cross the line of being narcissistic and it also made me wonder, if Takuma was like that. His skin had also been pale, but I couldn't really imagine him with a darker one.

"A-alright! We are here." Yuki panted and placed her hands on her knees, before looking down at the clock on her wrist. "We may be back just in time for my patrol, too."

"T-that's good." I nodded while leaning against a wall with heavy breaths. I certainly had not run that much since I was in grade school. My eyes slid towards a yellowish box that was against a fairly large building that had a wooden door and a sign saying 'POSTAL SERVICE' in bold letters. I walked towards it and looked at Yuki with an awkward side-glance. "So, I just put this in here, right?"

"Yes." She gave me a small smile and I bit my lower lip and turned back towards the task at hand.

What honestly would those gave me life think about my situation? My hands were honestly shaking now that I was starting to think things even deeper. The tips of my toes squirmed uncomfortably inside my shoes and the bottom of my stomach started turning from nervousness. The images of two bewildered faces kept popping into my head in different kinds of aspects and angles that a shiver went down my spine and my fingers started to feel strangely sweaty.

 _Oh, for the love of God! Don't think so hard!_

I inhaled deeply, yet quietly, and slid the paper object in. The faint sound of how it landed on top of the others of its kind was like having a rock pierce you, but I felt how my shoulders relaxed slightly. I wasn't sure, if waiting would be the worst part of all of this, but at least one of the worries was now off from me.

Me and Yuki started walking calmly, rather than running back. This time we didn't speak and were surrounded by a peaceful silence and the busy town life. Few shops were still open and people went in and came out of them almost every second. I certainly had not really thought of what kind of town the place was, but I liked its old atmosphere. Which also reminded me that I would need to find some more appropriate clothes to wear from now on, if I wanted to go out anymore, that was. In my own town, there were even more people and less of them paid any attention how you dressed, because everyone looked almost the same. You did not stand apart from the crowds.

It was also strange how I wouldn't need to use phone so much anymore, or rather I couldn't. There was no reception or internet almost anywhere. Momo had certainly told me that there should be at least one phone booth somewhere in the town, but I wouldn't even bother using it. The other thing was that from instinct I kept reaching into my pockets to grab my own mobile device, only to realize that I would not be able to scan any pages on the internet nor listen to ay music. It was frustrating and even more strange than what I was used to. The worst part was that I had to endure all of it until I could move back in with my parents.

Like now, my hand twitched towards the side of my jacket, only to stop, when I remembered that I had left my phone to the Sun Dorm. And of course when I thought of the dorm, my mind drifted to Kei who was probably snuggling into my old shirts all the time I walked. But for the first time in a week, I could've cared less what that cat of mine was up to. Momo had already left to her home, most of the rooms were empty and the place was quiet like it was hunted. I wouldn't need to worry about that fur ball getting discovered nor did I have to worry about being expelled for a while. The feeling of utmost relief was enough to almost make tears fall from my eyes, but I held them back and felt a smile gracing the corners of my lips.

 _Now, all I needed is a nice bath and a goodnight sleep._ The smile turned to grin, once the happy situation became more and more clearer to me. My feet started to feel so light that I could've started skipping.

"Y-you seem to be happy. A-are you excited to h-hear what your p-parents will say?" The question snapped me back and my mouth stopped smiling. Heat flooded to my cheeks, when I realized that I had grinned like an idiot, next to Yuki no less.

Putting the smile back on I looked back at her and nodded happily, though a lie was making its way into my mind. "Yes. I told them all kinds of stuff about the academy on that letter."

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you find the place to your liking. You've seemed so down that I thought that was not the case." The way her voice was steady made me realize that she had not stuttered. The smile that graced her lips was genuine and a healthy blush colored her own cheeks.

The sight made my own smile drop to a softer one, but I still kept it on. Finding her reaction and words kind of heartwarming and encouraging, despite that she wasn't even trying to bring me those kind of feelings. She truly was different form the young people nowadays. She was innocent and a goody-two-shoe daughter of a headmaster. Someone who acted like a perfect daughter and that was probably why Kaien adored her so much.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she waved her hands in front of her nervously. "T-though, I-I'm sorry f-for assuming s-such things."

 _Well, you were right for the most part._ The face of that blond male flashed in my eyes for the hundredth time in a single day and the nerves in the back of my head felt like they were twitching from the irritation I was feeling. I was _mostly_ not down, just feeling utter resentment.

"It's alright. Thanks for worrying." My smile also turned into a true, happy one, after I pushed the negative feelings away. "Will you be able to make it for your patrol?"

She nodded. "If we keep on like this, I might just make it."

"Good to hear." I said and then noticed that she was staring at me with those brown eyes of hers. They blinked few times and I noticed how her steps were slowing down a little and because of that I started to worry, if I had something on my face. Though, I didn't feel like there was and raised an eyebrow. "Cross-san?"

Whatever she had been thinking had been cut off by me and the cheeks were once again colored with pink. "I-I'm s-sorry! I-i-it's just t-that y-you talked n-normally j-just now!"

A frown made my eyebrows knit together and this time I truly did stop. "Excuse me?"

"A-ah! I-I d-d-didn't m-mean t-t-t-to be rude!" Yuki's voice rose an octave too high and her face looked like a white wall. "K-kazutso-san, y-you've just b-been t-t-talking so p-politely and s-stiffly u-until now. A-and r-right now y-you used w-words s-such as 'thanks' or 'good to hear, instead of 'thank you' and 'that's good to hear'. I-I don't m-mean to say t-that it i-is w-wrong-"

I raised my hands to cut her off, pitying how she started to look like she could faint or fall to pieces any moment. "Cross-san, please, take deep breaths."

It was true. Even with her, Yori and Kaien I had not talked like that until just now. But it was only because I had been so caught up with the moment with the brown haired girl that some words had just slipped by like I had been talking to a friend from back home. I wasn't sure how I should've felt about that, but I honestly didn't mind much what I had done. It just meant that I liked her and was fine with being relaxed around her, too.

The paleness seemed to disappear from her face, but she kept her eyes down and placed her hands in front of her lap, giving me a small bow. "I-I'm s-sorry."

"It's alright. You did nothing wrong. It was just a truth..." That was mostly all that came out of my mouth. But neither of us moved and we just stood there now, in an uncomfortable silence. Yuki had not even raised her head from the position and I started to feel self-conscious by just standing there while people kept passing by. "Um, can we go now?"

"O-oh, right!" Yuki finally rose and we started walking again, the atmosphere not changing a one bid.

 _Way to go._ I almost sighed, wanting to get back to the academy faster than before.

By the time we were already half-way there, the air started to turn a little more chilly and I started to bury my body as deep as I could into my own coat. The stores that had been open a while ago started to close and only small amount of the bars and restaurants stayed open and the lights of the windows started to dim one-by-one. It all made it even more clearer that it was not summer anymore, but autumn was finally catching up and soon we would not have to wait long for the snow to fall.

I kind of missed the white winter after a year, but I knew that as soon as the white substance would cover the earth I would miss the smell of the grass and the warmth of the sun and the ground. I wasn't that kind of person who took a lot of vitamin D like a crazy, but I preferred warmth, when it was cold and the other way around, when it was hot. Or as my father would say, I was _moody_ about the whole cycle of seasons, especially, when they changed.

Out of nowhere, a car, much fancier than what I had ever seen, drove from behind a corner, making me almost stop walking again. It was completely black limo, that shone quite well in the dim light of the streets like a clear mirror. It was not like the old fashioned ones that barely moved around the place, but modern and pricey looking. Even the wheels looked out of place with the scenario around them and it looked like the whole thing had been transformed back in time to 18th century.

The people around the place also noticed it and started to whisper and point at it. The whole reaction reminded me how I had been the subject of their attention few minutes ago with my outfit, but now I understood even more why that had been the case. Anything that didn't blend in would obviously be noticed immediately. _Well, at least I'm not being stared at anymore._

The car continued moving forward as did I with Yuki who also was staring at the moving vehicle. However, she also soon ignored it with me and turned her attention back to the direction we were going to. Though, as soon as the car passed by us, I swore I heard how its wheels gritted against the stony road, but ignored it. Its owner was probably already on their destination and I still kept thinking that even when there was a sound of the window sliding down.

Maybe I had kept ignoring the weird facts that the car obviously couldn't be from around here, but as soon as a voice called out from behind me I felt my whole being freeze like ice. "YUKI-CHAN!"

Both the said girl and me almost jumped and Yuki whirled around to face the speaker, but I didn't move an inch to even do so. My hands began to sweat and my stomach made many flips around the place, but the painful stabs of nervousness didn't make me move at all.

"I-ichijo-senpai!?" The name made my whole world spin from different emotions. "W-what are you d-doing here!? Shouldn't you b-be in school!?"

A nervous laugh followed after and the voice made me flinch. "I had some family business to sort out and just came back to visit a certain shop before I would go back to the school. What about you?" A pause followed and for some reason I feared that he was staring at the back of my head. Those thoughts soon became reality. "Who is your friend?"

"Eh? Y-you don't recognize K-kazutso-san?"

 _Oh sweet Buddha, Zeus, God, Yuki shut up!_ I gulped, finding my feet frozen to the ground, when the brown eyes came to my view and once they saw me they frowned with worry. Well, I couldn't actually blame her for that because I felt like diving into the ground and staying there six foot under her feet.

"K-kazutso-san, y-you d-d-don't look so good!" Yuki covered her mouth with her hand. "A-are you f-feeling sick? D-do y-you need to s-sit?"

"Is she alright?" The sound of the car's door opening made me want to start running.

The foot steps got closer, every second was painfully quick and soon I felt another presence right near me. My heart hammered against my ribcage almost aguishly hard and for a moment I forgot how to breathe properly. I was afraid, so afraid and nervous that I could've thrown up to the ground. I had not eaten much today to begin with, but currently I felt like all the meals of the week would come up my throat.

 _Don't look at him. Don't look at him. Don't look at him. Just walk. Just walk._ Those were the things I kept repeating in my head, but against all of them I twisted my neck very slowly to the side and then up. My eyes trailed against the fine looking fabric of a buttoned, light yellow shirt up to the broad shoulders until the sight of golden locks and green pair of eyes made a chill crawl down from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. It was like I forgot that there were any people around me at all.

Takuma was still like I remembered him. Fine, smooth looking face with innocent eyes that widened, when they met mine. His nicely shaped lower lip dropped down with utter surprise and shock, at least that was what he looked like to be feeling right now. The thin eyebrows almost reached to his hairline and part of them disappeared behind the neatly combed bangs. The emerald eyes had opened so wide that I easily could distinguish long and dark eyelashes that were like girl's, but mostly I noticed how close he was for me to almost feel the heat of his body against mine. I didn't know, if I was disgusted, afraid or flustered from it.

However, the dumbfounded look didn't last for a long time and soon his lips pulled up in a full-bloom smile that was almost blinding with the pearl white teeth. "It's you!"

My legs staggered back and I felt how my shoulder hit Yuki's. Her one arm was soon wrapped around me for support. "A-are y-you a-alright?" Her voice was full of concern, but I couldn't reply and only stared with absolute horror at the boy before me. It was like my soul was leaving my body from the mere sight of him. "Ah! Y-you r-really l-look pale!"

I was mostly in an emotional shock. I had not expected to see the blond male so suddenly and in the town no less. Just when I had been so frustrated and angry with him, but now I didn't even want to look at him in the eye. The stares we also got from the townspeople was also something that made me want to bury myself and it soon started to become harder to breathe.

 _Just breathe, inhale. He's not going to hurt you, just get a grip and walk._ But it was like being a deer caught in headlines, as I kept staring up at those confused, green eyes. The expression he made was almost childlike and it was then that I was also making the same face at him.

The past events flashed in my mind and every glance, every glare and whisper kept coming back to me. The whole day had been nothing, but emotionally stressful and now it was coming back with a full blow. Takuma, he was the one who had caused every single one of those fan girls to hate me, but now that he was right before me I only felt exasperation and nervousness. Even my heart beat was echoing in my ears and my hands kept sweating with equal rhythm. I just couldn't bare to talk to Takuma even for a second, when I felt like collapsing where I stood.

Gulping seemed to help me, because I was finally able to move my limbs and started to walk to where I was going to in the first place. The comfort of Yuki's arms left me immediately, but I didn't stop. Though, I still felt a little dizzy and my mind couldn't work clearly what was happening. _Maybe this is what they call it, when a person's is in too much shock._

"K-kazutso-san! W-where a-are y-you going!?" Yuki called after me and I heard how she tried to catch up with my pace.

"T-to my d-dorm." Talking was almost as hard as walking, but I did manage to mutter that out.

"Y-you c-can't! Y-you look like a g-ghost! I-ichijo-senpai!"

"Y-yes?" The voice replied a little confusedly.

"C-could y-you p-possibly t-take u-us back t-to the academy, p-please!? Ka-kazutso-san needs r-rest!" Yuki was asking with the tone of pleading obvious on her voice.

That was when I froze once again and almost fell over from surprise. I wasn't sure where the last bid of my strength to whirl around came from, but when I did my eyes immediately darted towards the blond male. He looked down at the much smaller girl in front of him and then his gaze slid to me and my fists unconsciously clenched. They were bright and thoughtfully analyzing me, with softness on his face.

The mere suggestion, the mere thought of actually him giving me a ride was making my insides squirm uncomfortably. That would mean that we would be together in a small space together and even thought Yuki would come with us the fact didn't make me feel good either. He could possibly interrogate me why I had not come and meet him with Kei in the forest or ask more questions about my cat.

 _Please say no, please say no, please say no!_ But despite my inner pleading, another charming smile broke on his features and I felt another chill go down my spine.

I quickly looked at Yuki almost with a crying face. "There is no-"

"Of course! Ladies first." Takuma was faster than me and within seconds he was next to the shiny black door and gesturing for use to come inside.

Yuki's face was the absolute opposite of mine. She bowed deeply. "T-thank you! Let's g-go Kazutso-san!"

"Y-yuki-" I tried to speak, but she grabbed my hand and was already dragging me towards the car and the beaming Takuma. My stomach dropped yet again from the sight of him. "I-I-"

"I'm s-sorry that I-I didn't n-notice your state m-much earlier."

"Th-"

"I-I sh-should've known t-that y-you're tired."

"Yu-" But I was helplessly pushed in, in my weak state and soon the door was slammed firmly shut and Takuma took a seat opposite of ours.

I literally started to feel trapped like mouse, when the car started moving with a slow speed. The seat underneath me felt soft and the whole place smelled like leather and fresh cleaning supplies, but the pleasant smell did not make me feel better. In fact, I started to have overblown thoughts of the seat eating me alive. Maybe in another, more reassuring circumstances I would've even tired to enjoy the ride, but not now. Not when there was a pair of green eyes looking at me curiously.

Yuki on the other hand stayed calmly, but worried next to me, as my shoulder pressed against the car's door almost begging to get out. She kept asking me questions and if I needed anything, even when I didn't seem to be paying any attention to her. In my mind, it was hard to decide, if I was angry or just upset with her. I mean, I obviously had not wanted to get into the car. But Yuki had had strangely strong grip, even when I had tried pulling away. She may have meant only good for my wellbeing, but I was currently feeling same emotions towards her as I felt towards Takuma. Though, not so strongly.

Takuma had turned his attention to the side on the bag that was place next to him. He was rummaging through it, with a little frown pulling on his face like he was not able to find something he wanted. He didn't even glance towards me nor give me that smile that overly happy smile that I found creepy, but seemed to concentrate for the first time since I had met him. Honestly, it made me suspicious what he was up to by actually taking us back to the academy so easily like this. The car only added to my suspicions that he was truly a rich kid and had plenty to waste, his good looks also were another proof of that. He must have used some kind of skin lotions to make his whole face look so clean and spotless. _Does he even go out, with that whiteness of his?_

The car turned around a corner and the movement made me realize that I had been staring at the blond boy too long. Flustered, I looked down at my lap and tightened my fists next to my thighs. After I had told Kaien that I didn't want to have anything to do with Takuma, here I was. _Why had I not been able to act normally and just walked away?_ I bit my lower lip and wrapped my hands around my torso. Yuki had not stopped asking questions and I kept wondering how many more she had left until my ears would fall off.

I glanced up at Takuma again, only to look back down. From the dark window I saw how the houses kept passing by. _Ugh! Why can't this thing go faster!?_

"Um, Kazutso-san, was it?" His voice made me freeze and timidly look back up. He was smiling and holding a bottle of water in his hands. "Would you like some? I haven't opened it yet."

I stared at him and then at the bottle. Truth to be told, I was thirsty, I had not drank anything since the lunch time and the running and walking had certainly taken a toll on me. And even thought a silly fear of the liquid being poisoned crossed my mind, I gave a small nod and Takuma returned it with another smile.

"Thank you." My voice was small and awkward and I carefully reached out towards the offered bottle and almost couldn't get a proper hold on it.

"So..." He started, once I twisted the cork open. "May I ask why you two were in the town today?"

"Oh, K-kazuto-san needed to find a mailbox to send a letter to her family." Yuki answered with small smile and I almost leered at her.

 _Do not tell him the details!_ I swallowed my irritation with the water and felt quite happy, when my dry throat got its relief.

"So you helped her to find it, Cross-san? How thoughtful. It's a relief that we can always trust on our school's disciplinary committee." Takuma's smile and voice were both smooth, but they made me stiffen, when their attention went to me. To Yuki's and my surprise, he lowered his head. "I'm terribly sorry about the scene I had caused the other day. It was not my intention to cause you any trouble."

The bottle in my hands started to shake, when I almost dropped it. With my other hand I tried to support it and with my eyes I looked at Takuma, trying to find something that would hint his dishonesty. But even after hearing his soft tone and seeing the apologetic smile on his face, I could not bring myself to belief him. It seemed all too convenient that he had appeared today to the town and I was there with Yuki. Also, even a bonehead could understand before they cause a scene. The glares and outraged shouts the girls had given me had been very obvious on that day.

Takuma's expression, however, remained the same and he did not raise his head from the small bowing position he was making. He did not even move, when nobody was saying anything in the car.

"It's alright." I forced a lie from my mouth, even when the same irritation from earlier today started to bubble back up. He was helping us right, so it would be quite rude for me to start arguing with him.

Takuma raised his head with what appeared to be a relieved smile on his face. "I'm glad that you're not upset."

 _Don't start feeling happy yet, pretty boy,_ I almost muttered, but took another gulp of water. But when people just kept having such happy looks on their faces, like Takuma did, it was hard for me to be fully angry. My parents know this and always use the same trick on me.

"How are you at the Cross Academy? I hope you like the place." He continued the conversation rather easily and politely, but the smile stayed on place.

I shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "Fine, I guess."

"That's good to hear! I remember on my first day I got lost for hours in the main building until someone found me and told me where the class was." His expression fell as a sigh escaped from his lips. "It was scary."

"Eh? I-ichijo-senpai, you g-got lost?" Yuki stared at him with disbelief and he chuckled awkwardly.

"Sure did. The place had been much bigger than what I had thought it would be. It happened few times after that, too." He rubbed the back of his head rather sheepishly.

The sight of him like this made me almost relax. He was certainly much taller and bigger than me and obviously on an upper grade than me and Yuki, but now he looked like a normal boy to me. He had seemed like a scatterbrain from the start and the image of him actually starting to panic in the middle of a dark hallway made a small smirk pull my lips up.

"Kazutso-san, are you and Yuki-chan on the same year?" Takuma asked curiously and I gave a nod. This seemed to make him beam. "You two are friends, then?"

"...I-I guess so?" I glanced unsurely at Yuki, not wanting her or me to get the wrong idea, but I only see her give me a sweet, accepting smile.

This made my heart swell with happiness, out of nowhere. Now that Momo and the rest of the school's female population seemed to hold a lifetime grudge against me, it brought a great joy to me that I was not entirely alone. The atmosphere became much lighter and my shoulders relaxed unconsciously and I allowed myself to lean more deeper into my seat. The thought of really going through almost a whole year without anyone to truly talk to was more terrifying than I had realized.

Suddenly, remembering that it wasn't just the two of us, I looked back at Takuma whose smile had widened even more. Now that I got a proper look at him, his hair wasn't that golden, only some small strands of it. Mostly it was just very light blond all over.

"By the way, I-ichijo-senpai. What s-shop w-were y-you going to visit?" Yuki asked, looking like she would tilt her head in curiosity.

Like a magic word had been said, Takuma leaned closer, almost standing up from his spot. "Well, there is this new manga that has been recently released and I wanted to go and buy it! It is an adventure story with dragons and fairies in it, so I absolutely had to have it!"

Yuki seemed to be thinking of something. "I remember that you like reading manga a lot."

He nodded vigorously, looking like an excited kid. "That's true. But recently my shelves are getting pretty full and I can't find any other places to put them in, expect under my bed that is. I tried to put them under Shiki-kun's, too. He didn't seem to be happy about it, though. Haha! I also tried to put them into Kaname-kun's room, but he also hadn't been really keen on the idea."

The entire time he had been talking, I had been staring at him with wide eyes. I had not at all been thinking what his hobbies or likes were, but hearing that he preferred manga was quite a smack to the face. For one reason, he didn't seem like the type to like something like that, books would've suited him better. Also, when he dressed fancily like he currently was and driving in an actual limo it was even harder to imagine him actually reading manga. Or even like it so much he started blabbering.

Simply put, I was _extremely_ surprised by this new information. His behavior and facts I did not know about him kept shocking me. But seeing these things, actually put me more at ease. Though, I was also wary, because I was dropping my guard down around him so soon after what had happened.

Takuma suddenly stopped talking and that was when I noticed that he was staring at me. An expression of embarrassment crossed on his face and he laughed weakly. "Sorry. I got a little too excited. It must sound silly that I read manga."

 _Silly?_

"No, not really." I looked around awkwardly, not really wanting to make an eye contact. "If you like it, then you like it."

When I looked at him again, his embarrassed look was gone and he seemed to be happy. However, before he could say anything the car stopped.

"Ichijo-sama, we've arrived to our destination." The driver, who I had not paid any attention to, spoke from his spot on the front.

"Eh? Already?" Takuma blinked, sounding disappointed, but sighed deeply at the end. "Fine. Thank you."

"It was no problem, Ichijo-sama."

 _Such a respectful driver,_ I thought as we exited the car and I saw the long, stone stairs up to the large gate and wall. The air was much more colder now that the sun was barely seen on the horizon and once the car drove away the three of us started walking up. I, of course, staid close to Yuki while Takuma walked with a respectful distance to us.

My hold on the bottle, that he had given me, tightened, once I glanced towards him. He had a small smile on his lips, like he found the walk pleasant and a breeze moved his bangs gently on its hold. I couldn't deny the fact that he had indeed been nice to talk to in the car. He had not done anything wrong or said anything rude. He had even shared his own interests with us light-heartedly, not showing any doubt or negative feelings. Even Yuki had been comfortable with talking to him like to a friend. And most of all, he had not talked about Kei and revealed a thing to the brown haired prefect.

I wiped my sweaty hand against my jacket and looked thoughtfully up at the academy that's gates stood open like they had been waiting for us. I still was skeptical about him and his character and couldn't say that I was still fully trustful of him, but maybe I could give him a chance. If he truly did mean it, when he said he wanted to meet me and Kei again, then I guessed that would be okay.

Though, the fan girls would be absolutely murderous, if they ever found out that I had been talking to him again.

As if they had heard my thoughts and sent a curse after me, I missed a step and soon found myself falling with a yelp. Luckily, my hands were able to soften my landing, though I wouldn't be surprised, if I found a bruise later.

"Kazutso-san!" Yuki was almost immediately crouched down next to me and looking like she had stepped on a kitten.

"Are you alright?" Takuma was next and I felt my cheeks turn red from embarrassment. I just had to be clumsy now.

"Y-yeah..." I managed to push myself up, but winced from the dropping pain on my arms. "Just a little surprised."

"The water!" Yuki said and I was puzzled from her choice of words for a moment, but then turned around to see that the bottle had fallen from my hands and was resting few steps behind us. The cork had been loose it seemed, because it was off and some water was already dripping away.

Stiffening, I scrambled up and ran to it. Half of its content was already gone and I bit my lower lip with a frown. Quickly, I took it up and rolled the cork back on and then looked at Takuma awkwardly. "Sorry."

He blinked, but then smiled. "It's nothing serious. At least you aren't thirsty anymore."

It was like a battle inside of myself was ended by one side winning, once I saw that sweet smile. Aw, _I really have to ask him then._ I glanced at Yuki who looked at me up and down. _At least, when she's gone._

"A-are you h-hurt anywhere?" She asked worriedly and glanced towards Takuma for a moment, looking kind of nervous.

I looked down at myself to confirm my answer and dusted some dirt off from my sleeve. "No, I don't think so."

Yuki's shoulders dropped. "T-that's good. W-w sh-should hurry now, though."

"Oh, right." I said lamely back and followed her up again, but right when she was in some distance I looked at Takuma and took a deep breath. "R-remember, what y-you asked on my dorm's gates?"

He seems to perk up and his eyes look even brighter. "Yes?"

I could almost hear and recognize that excited edge on his tone. A smile was tugging the corners of his lips, but he seemed struggled to keep it from widening more. He was being patient.

 _I can hit myself later for this._

"Well..." I glanced to the side, feeling embarrassed for even opening my mouth. "I...I guess it could be okay."

"Can we meet tomorrow, then?" Was it just me, or did he seem even more excited?

I shrugged carelessly, shifting my weight on my legs a little impatiently. "Sure."

"Is at 5pm alright?" He asked and this time I met his eyes.

 _Yup. He's grinning._

I shrugged again. "Sure."

 _I've got a bad feeling about this._


	5. Chapter 5

**Their gates will close around you**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Inching closer**

* * *

 _I'm an idiot._

No matter how many times I recalled the short conversation I had with Takuma yesterday, it made me question my sanity almost every time. I had just made a promise to meet him today, with Kei no less, and there was no way I could cancel it. I mean, I didn't want to give him a reason to start spreading the word about my cat to the entire school and get me into trouble. Also, he had made me feel like I owed him for the ride he had given me and Yuki. Maybe, I really couldn't have made it to the academy by foot in my state.

I shook my head. I might have been a bit shaken at that time, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't have gathered myself at some point. I just got dragged into his car by Yuki, who hadn't let me even say anything for reassurance. So that meant that we owed both nothing for each other, right? He must have also done it all just for Yuki. Both of them seemed to be pretty comfortable with each other. Though, it also had been rather nice of him to give me a drink.

As I had started to brush my messy morning hair in front of the mirror, I felt a nervous tingle inside of my stomach. There was no doubt that I had softened to him a little too easily and too soon, because of a single act of kindness. That was why I needed to keep my guard up even more. My whole new school life was on the line here.

My hand stopped moving, while holding the brush. _Could it be that he wants to take a photo of me and Kei for future purposes?_ My fingers tightened around the handle and I bit my tongue with a thoughtful expression. I looked at my reflection in the mirror to see my dark hair laying flatly on my head, expect for the few puffy parts from the knots I had not yet been able to solve. The frown on my face caused wrinkles on my forehead and I smoothed it away, not wanting any permanent marks just yet. _I'm...not being too paranoid, am I?_

"Meow!" Kei suddenly jumped into my lap and rubbed his furry head against my stomach. The vibration that came out from him spread on my body from the contact and I smiled a little. He seemed to be in a good mood all of sudden.

"Trying to cheer me up?" I slowly stroked his back, earning an even louder noise of satisfaction from the feline. "Now, I want you to try and behave, alright? I don't want you having a hissy fit, when we go and see Takuma. Trust me, I'm as excited as you're about the whole thing."

All I got as a reply, was the cat jumping out of my lap and landing gracefully to the floor with a barely loud thud. His yellow eyes looked up at me curiously and I knew that he had not understood a thing I had just said. Well, it was much better than him trying to claw my skin off. The thought of him seeing the blond and green eyed blond again made me want to grab a pair of gloves just in case. You never knew, when you would need them with the bobtail cat around being cranky.

Pulling on a simple, black, long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, I took my sneakers and bag, before taking Kei into my arms. After one or two strokes on his head for comfort, I placed him into the usual hideout and headed towards the door. I was already running late from mine and Takuma's _meeting._

The hallway was quite, when I opened the door and carefully peeked to the outside. Also, there didn't seem to be coming any noticeable sound from behind the other students doors, which was either a good or a bad sign for me. My heart beat quickened, when I thought of someone just appearing from behind a corner out of nowhere. It was all like from some sort of horror film, but Kei's movement in my bag made me close the door quietly behind me and walk briskly down the route that had become quite familiar to was my first time seeing the campus at weekend time, but it surprised me how quiet it was all around the place. Almost as if I was the only student left in the whole place, plus Kei the cat of course. Though, it made me look even more forward to the vacations and the same sort. That would mean that it would become more easier to keep my cat as a secret.

To my second surprise, the air outside was not as chilly as I had imagined. I still needed to use my long-sleeved shirts and so on, but the sun that had finally come out of hiding gave some warmth to the world. Smiling I skipped down the stairs and stopped on a solid ground, closing my eyes and inhaling deeply. I was not such a fan of getting sunburned and suffering from the heat, but right now the light lifted up my mood to a soaring high level. As far as I had been seeing and experiencing, there was almost never even a streak of the sunlight around the academy. This was a rare treat.

 _This may not become such a bad day after all._ Though, I crushed that thought immediately, when I tried to imagine some other good things that today might happen. There came no such images into my head, for it was full of scenarios of how Kei would make a certain boy hate me and then blabber information all over the place. Inhaling again, I tried to calm myself and how my heart was beating behind my ribcage. _Breathe. This will be all over soon and then I can go into the safety of my room._

The fallen small twigs and branches made small snapping sounds, when I stepped on top of them, while walking on a forest path. The exact location of the same place where we were supposed to meet was a little bit unclear to me, but I knew that, if I kept on walking straight ahead, I would get to the same wall where Takuma and I met. It was quite weird that I was going there willingly, though. Now that I thought about it, Kei had been the one that had lead me to him that day. He had acted strangely and suddenly bolted, but if he had known that there was something near that he saw a threat, he shouldn't have ran there in the first place. Curiosity truly could kill a cat, after all. But it was even stranger why Kei disliked the vice president of the Night Class. They also said that animals were good at reading people's characters, so maybe Takuma was just acting by being a good sunshine boy?

The last thought made me almost turn around and run back to the campus, but I kept walking with a determined mind. I could not back down now, it might have been my stupid pride and conscious speaking, but I definitely did not like the idea of running away, now. Besides, how could I even turn around, when I was the one who had in the end agreed meeting Takuma. It would be embarrassing, if I did not show up.

 _That's right. I've to pull myself together and face him._ Unconsciously, my steps became more faster and I tightened my hold on the reins of my bag. Kei's weight in it didn't feel like much anymore and it could've been possible for me to throw it high up in the air, if I wanted to. I still felt nervous, though, but also more confident that I could pull through all of this. Takuma had the secrets of his own, too. He had trespassed into the Sun Dorm's territory at the time, when he should've been sleeping. I had something I could blackmail him with.

Finally, I arrived to the giant wall and felt a rush of relief from finding it rather easily. The place I stood on also wasn't far from the spot where I had emerged from for the first time, when I came there. I remembered that there was a medium sized rock near a certain tree and I also was able to find it after a little bit of walking around. Feeling once again a little better, I opened the bag and Kei soon jumped down from it to the grassy ground where he looked around his environment.

I kept my eyes on him for a while, making sure that he didn't wonder off to somewhere where he shouldn't be, before looking down at the watch around my right wrist. Knowing that I would not have much of a use with a phone in a place that did not even have a proper connection, mother had gotten it for me in case I needed to look what time it was. She had been right, currently my phone was back in the dorm, inside my drawer.

It was only a little past five, but I did not see Takuma anywhere. The only thing I heard was the chirping of the birds and the leaves ruffling against one another. It was only me and Kei, whose paws did not let out a sound, as they kept touching the ground. The silence wasn't bad, but I started to feel a little offended that the one I was supposed to meet had not yet appeared. _It may be a little past the time we agreed on, but it is kind of rude to arrive late. Is he not coming after all? Had he been lying to me?  
_

Clenching my hands into fists I huffed and sat down under a tree. I did not understand why I suddenly became irritated, but the thought of him actually joking with me made me really angry. Had he no shame at all? He was obviously rich, so he may also be an egoistical, self-centered young master, who likes to play with those that are not near his standard, no matter how nice and innocent he may have seemed.

Suddenly, Kei's loud meows tore the silent air to pieces and I nearly jumped out of my skin from surprise. Quickly whipping my head around and hoping to find him, I clumsily stood up in haste, but then froze from the sight of a person that I saw coming nearer. Light blond hair was combed neatly, like a breeze could not ruin it even for a moment and green eyes were bright, while an even brighter smile was showing a row of white teeth.

"Kazutso-san!" Takuma called happily, like Kei was not just few feet away tail up and puffy and nails ready to attack him like a feral beast. Though, he eventually did notice, when he was closer, but all he did was continue smiling. "Hello there. Remember me?"

"Hissssssss!" Kei looked murderous and I stiffened, praying that my cat did not truly plan on demolishing the boy before him.

Takuma simply chuckled from the feline's reaction, to my shock. "He's energetic again, I see."

Swallowing and taking in a shaky breath, I managed to take a step forward. At the same time, Takuma straightened up and smiled at me, the expression made me stop walking and I almost backed good ten feet away. But with all of my strength I kept my legs firmly glued to the ground. I had managed to come this far already, I needed to bear with it just a little bit longer.

Takuma turned to look at me and gave me a soft smile, one that did not have any bad intensions behind it. "I'm sorry for not being here on time. My roommate woke up, when I was leaving and started to ask questions."

"Your roommate did? Then...what did you answer?" I asked and luckily didn't sound too worried. Though, my stomach was twisting from worry and it continued increasing the way Kei was hissing.

"Don't worry." Takuma raised his head and smiled softly. "I told him that I was unable to sleep and decided to take a stroll."

My shoulders must have slumped rather obviously, but he didn't point that out nor look like he had even noticed. "I see. But won't you get into trouble for being out, when you're supposed to be sleeping?"

"You don't need to be worried about that either. Benefits of being the vice president of the dorm." He winked and I almost took a step back. Nobody had really ever done that kind of act towards me before. "By the way, thank you for coming. Though, it must be a little strange for me to ask for this from you."

Takuma smiled sheepishly, sounding truly sorry. But I could not really tell, if that was the case. After all, it was not like I was able to read people well. The thought of Takuma actually faking his both personality and kindness was still playing in my head, but despite my real thoughts I forced a smile that was quite a painful thing to do. "I-it's alright."

 _Damn it! I'm sorry nervous I can't stop stuttering!_

"If I may ask, what's the name of your cat?" He asked next and crouched down near Kei. The cat didn't welcome his advance and only seemed to become more menacing.

"Kei." I answered and watched carefully at the interactions that the two were making.

Takuma looked like a child who had found something interesting. "Kei..." He muttered the name under his breath and the looked up at me from his position. "It suits him. Am I right to assume that he's a Japanese bobtail?"

My eyes widened in genuine surprise and my jaw hung open for a second. I had not expected him to know what cat species Kei was. "Yes. How did you know?"

"I've read about it in a book. When I was small, I saw one and then kept wondering why its tail was so funny looking, so I decided to look into it." He smiled and then looked at Kei with even brighter one. "Truthfully, I was really surprised and happy, when he out of nowhere jumped out of a nearby bush. It has been a while, since I've seen a cat like him. What do you usually feed him with?"

"H-he usually eats canned cat food. But he can also be offered cookies and other such dry food, as long as it is not too greasy or large amount of it." I said, relaxing a little, when I thought about my cat's taste. Takuma hummed and then tried to reach out to Kei and I stiffened again, bracing for whatever was about to happen. However, I opened my mouth, before Takuma could've gotten his hand near the range where he could lose a finger. "Y-you s-shouldn't try and pet him like that."

"Eh? Am I doing it wrong?" The blond male retreated his hand and looked at me a little lost.

Taking in a deep breath, I came closer and knelt down, but kept a respectful distance to the boy. Now, I reached out to Kei, but from the side of his head and his hissing substituted slowly, but at sure space, which made me almost let out a sight of relief. I continued stroking his fur, but did not look at Takuma. "If you reach out from the front, he'll feel threatened and afraid, especially because he does not know you. You should try and first let him sniff your hand, so that he'll get to know your scent. Then reach out to him like this from the side and I think he'll let you touch him."

"Oh. I see." Takuma nodded and then reached out his hand again, but this time more slowly than before.

As his hand neared, I kept stroking Kei just for reassurance that he wouldn't need to be afraid or nervous. He did start growling, as soon as he saw Takuma trying to touch him again, and I panicked a little, but the ran my other hand over his back calmly. Though, my heart beat was quicker than ever before and sweat kept gathering on the back of my neck, I was far from being calm. _He'll bite, he'll soon scratch him and then it's all over for me!_

However, still obvious to the danger ahead, Takuma stopped his hand just a little less than a foot away from Kei and let it stay there for a moment. After waiting for few seconds or maybe a minute, he brought his hand just few inches closer. It didn't tremble, move back or forward, but stayed there like a statue's, waiting for something to also reach out to it. There was still a soft smile on the Night classer's face, but he seemed to be concentrated and patient, too. It was perplexing how he could be like that in front of a clearly displeased animal.

But his efforts seemed to pay finally back, because Kei inched a little closer and ghosted his nose near the tip of the finger. Kei backed away then for a little, before again sniffing the hand and repeating the same action again. Then, Takuma pushed his hand forward with a very slow movement, but did as I had said and went to the left side of the cat's head. It made Kei growl, but only a little while and more softly than before. And finally, Takuma was able to stroke the soft fur and a bright smile lift up in both his mouth and eyes. He looked like he had accomplished something that should've been put to world wide records.

Quietly, I released a breath I had not realized been holding in and my shoulders slumped for the second time during today. I was extremely relieved that it had went much better than I had thought. I only spoke something I had been advised by some other person who had a cat. There had been just a small chance that that advice could've worked, in my option, but now I was extremely grateful and relieved that I had listened to it. Kei had never really reacted like this to other people, he was rather friendly with strangers and despite him being sometimes cranky he was a very gentle and friendly cat.

 _So, why does he not like Takuma?_

"His fur is so soft." The said male smiled and watched the cat run to a nearby tree and sniff it. "I did not know that it had to be done like that. Thank you for telling me, Kazutso-san."

I smiled nervously. "It was nothing."

"Still, I'm happy that I was able to touch him. It must be really nice to have a cat."

"Well, that depends." I said and glanced at the white and brown furred creatures. "Sometimes, he can get a little handful."

Takuma hummed and also kept looking at the feline. " I read that they're pretty easy to take care of."

"They're still like any other cats. You have to watch what he eats, if he's planning on tearing your clothes into pieces or causing other such trouble." Funnily, I was becoming more relaxed. Who would've known that I would be casually talking about cats with someone who I considered as some kind of enemy?

A soft thud was heard and I turned to look at Takuma who had out of nowhere sat on the grass covered ground with his jeans on. It wouldn't have been a surprise, if they were expensive with his white, long-sleeved shirt that was buttoned up with the same colored buttons. He had one arm supporting himself, as he leaned a little to the side and the other was thrown over a knee with a relaxed look on his face that didn't drop the smile.

Not wanting to stay there with an uncomfortable position, I also sat down and placed my bag to the side. But no matter how relaxed I tried to get, the silence felt really awkward. I also had no idea what I should've even talked about with Takuma, since I just came to here and that was all. I hadn't expected for us to be here for too long, I had thought that he would just be trying to occupy himself with Kei. But now I wanted to talk about something and not leave this perplexing air hanging over our heads.

"I've always wanted a cat, though." He said happily, breaking the silence.

"Why?" I asked back lamely.

"Well, they're really soft looking and cute. Not to mention they're really good at relaxing people just by letting them hold them. I also read that from a book..." He continued speaking on and on about cats like it was the most interesting subject in the world. Even directing his interest in Kei now and then and asking me things about him. I answered all of them.

It was truly strange how my mood lifted up. Somehow, seeing how he was truly interested in something was enjoyable to listen to. He had truly been fascinated by the Japanese bobtail and had not been lying about it. There was no way he could've talked about these things for quite a while, without having already some knowledge about it. At some point, I only started to listen half of what he was saying, there was no way I could've remembered anything, but I truly liked to listen his babbling, because he did also tell me some interesting facts.

All of my anxiety, nervous thoughts and feelings gradually and almost disappeared completely without a trace and I finally felt relaxed. It may have been a little naïve and foolish of me to suddenly feel like that with him, but he was surprisingly pleasant person to have a conversation with. And I was not able to properly explain it, but it was like just looking at him was making me feel the way I did. Though, it made me feel a little guilty, when I felt a waver of suspicion still inside my mind. People could be deceived easily and I was still fighting myself for believing in that. _But, maybe it's alright for now. He hasn't asked anything that would cause any harm. I also should do the same._

"Ichijo-san, you mentioned that you liked manga yesterday. Are they really good?" I asked, trying to sound interested in the subject. Honestly, though, I had never really been paying any mind to them.

His face lift up. "Yes! I especially love those kind that have mysteries in them. They're really interesting and sometimes you can also learn from them. Have you ever read a manga before, Kazutso-san?"

"Unfortunately, only one. One of my cousins let me read it and if I remember correctly it was called, um, Fairy something?" I felt my cheeks redden from not remembering the name, but Takuma only chuckled good naturedly.

"Was it Fairy Tail?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

I nodded, my memory recognizing the title. "Yes."

"It was actually the first manga I ever read." A small smile came to his lips and he looked to the side, he started to have a nostalgic voice and an expression. "I had just gone to a bookstore, when I was younger and it had seemed really interesting, so I bought it."

I was just about to say something else, when he suddenly leaned closer to me and I instantly leaned a little back. He had a wider smile on this time and there was a glow of excitement on his features. Now that I got a closer look at him, his skin was not only pale and fine, but looked also spotless. It made me a little envious, but that was the last of things I had to worry about currently.

"Would you like to read some of my mangas?" He asked sweetly.

I blinked, my mind blank, but also considering his question. "I-I'm not really sure."

 _Too close, too close, too close, even if it is just a feet, still too close!_

"I'm sure that you would like them. What type of books do you usually read?" Takuma did not back away, but kept asking persistently.

Also, I realized that there was a tree, a large one behind me that wouldn't let me move any further than I needed to. If I would've backed away just a little bit, no doubt my back would've met its hard trunk. I was, in some senses, trapped between it and the boy before me and I started to panic. I had never been in a situation like this, not to mention it was truly hard to think, when Takuma was looking at me straight into the eyes and looking like he could read my mind.

As for his question, I wasn't sure how to answer that. I was not much of a fan of books or literature, it was something that my father liked about, but not me. I had read pretty average amount, when I was smaller, but when I got a smartphone and a laptop, etc. I kind of lost interest in the pages inside hard covers. But Takuma was asking something that made me almost regret that I stopped reading. Just how was I supposed to answer him?

My face heated and I tried to control it. Not because of the distance between me and the blond boy or how he did not look away, but rather from embarrassment of not knowing the answer immediately. And I was not sure that I would like reading mangas either. However, Takuma was waiting for me to say something and the intensity of his actions and gaze made me almost break.

"F-fantasy", was what finally got out of my mouth and the smile brightened, showing once again pearl white teeth.

"I had a feeling you would." He still didn't back off. "Hm? Are you well, Kazutso-san? You're making a weird expression."

 _If you didn't sound to genuinely worried, I would want to yell at you._ Swallowing thickly, I took in a shaky breath, trying to not show that I was slightly irritated. "You're too close."

"This is close?" He blinked, dark lashes clashing with his skin tone. Takuma looked honestly confused, until he chuckled and smiled. "Kazutso-san, you're really shy, huh? But I apologies for making you uncomfortable."

Whatever I wanted to say, dried and died in my throat, when he finally put a distance between us. I also leaned forward to take my previous position and almost sighed in relief. I was just glad that he finally was further away again and stayed there, hopefully. _You're the one who is too forward._

"Do you have any siblings?" Takuma asked suddenly and kept that same smile from before on.

The sudden and personal question made me a little suspicious, but I supposed that there was no harm in answering him. "No. I'm the only child."

He seemed to be happy from that answer. "We're the same then. I also have no siblings, but I wish I did. What about you?"

"I'm not sure." I shrugged and then looked towards Kei. "I've Kei to keep me busy enough, so I guess I don't need extra weight on my shoulders. Though, maybe I sometimes wish for siblings, too?" I stayed silent for a while and then looked at Takuma who tilted his head at me, when I just kept looking.

"Yes?"

"Ichijo-san, your face is a little red." I said and almost smiled from the expression of puzzlement he made. He looked like a normal boy like that, with his face flushed and face twisting in confusion like one of my friends had once during a hot summer day.

He reached his right hand and touched the side of his cheek. He blinked again and then glanced a little up. "Oh, my skin might have burned a little."

Now, I was probably looking puzzled and also looked up. The sun was there with a little cloud covering not even half of it, not almost giving any warmth and if my shirt had not been so thick, then there was no doubt that I would've started shivering. The autumn seemed to come much quicker this year or it could've been because we were much closer to the north than where I came from. The weather might have been a little different around here.

And it was because of the current weather that I was confused of how Takuma could've been burned. Sure, the skin reddening was normal, when that happened, but there was no way that his own skin could've been that sensitive to the sunlight. _It may be some kind of condition. It would explain why he looks so white in the first place._

"My skin is pretty sensitive, so I burn easily." He explained as he sat down under a tree's shade just behind me. His green eyes met my brown ones and he smiled. "I understand, if you don't believe me."

"Well..." I was once again not sure what to answer, but instead I found a strange question popping into my head. "Do the other Night Class students have the same problem with the light?" Something flickered on Takuma's face and he smiled pleasantly, but it was clear that his silence was long enough to answer that he was not comfortable with giving a reply to that question. I started to panic that it had been too private matter for me to even think about. "I-I'm sorry. It's your business, not mine."

"No, that's not it. I'm sorry, if I gave you the wrong idea." Takuma smiled reassuringly and looked up at the branches of the trees, or he could've looked at the sky, too.

I wanted to change to subject, despite what he had said. I started to feel bad about asking anything that was linked to his sensitive skin. Also, the question that I had asked was directed to a whole dorm and there was only one from the Moon Dorm present before me. I was starting to feel like I had invaded their privacy, but I also was deep down still curious about their situation. Their skins could've also been the reason, why there was a Night and Day class to begin with. Though, it did not explain, why everyone from the Moon Dorm were so good looking.

"Is sleeping during the day hard?" It was a random thought that came into my head in a rush, but it would do just fine.

"Huh? Oh, not at all." Takuma fully turned towards me, eyes twinkling in the shadow, brighter than the color of the leaves around him. "We have quite thick curtains and not to mention we're pretty much used to it. Even I start sleeping during the day, before the school starts. It's rather easy!"

A smile spread on my own lips. Takuma looked really proud, when he started to talk about his accomplishment in sleeping and that's how the rest of our conversations went. We just kept asking random questions and he was pretty good at making an enjoyable talk from it. It was like he enjoyed everything that I asked about.

Kei kept playing somewhere in the distance. He was not troubled by Takuma's presence anymore either.

* * *

A yawn escaped past my lips, as I walked down the familiar forest path. The grass had been stomped down, when I had first walked through the bushes and trees, so it was quite convenient guide to have. The sun was already starting to set and it was half-dark in the shadows of the trees, but not that much that I did not see where I was going. The evening air was making me miss the warmth of my bed already and my eyelids were feeling quite heavy. Even Kei was being pretty calm in my bag and he had even almost started sleeping, when I placed him there.

The clock on my wrist was already showing that it was nearing eight o'clock and I was still out in the wilderness. It had been a surprise to me of how much time had really passed, when I had talked to Takuma. We also played with Kei a little by tangling some grasses and branches in front of him and he had tried to catch them. That had seemed to be the green eyed male's favorite part of the whole evening, but it had eventually stopped, when we noticed that the sun was going down.

Still, even as I was walking back towards my dorm, I still kept wondering how Takuma could get back to his own. There was a giant wall and he needed to get past it and of course I was curious how he would do it. But I had left before him, because I did not want to get too nosy. Though, now I was starting to get pretty much worried, if he was even able to get back to the Moon Dorm unharmed or even unfound. Even with his broad shoulders, he still seemed to be pretty skinny to me and not to mention he got sunburned after few minutes.

Though, my nervousness was soon turned into a troubled feeling, because I remembered the last words he had spoken to me. It had went somehow like this: " _Could you come here tomorrow, too? I want to show you some mangas. Pretty please?"_ And how I could've said no to that, when I usually was no good at crushing people's hopes.

 _Saying no to him would be like kicking a puppy._ I let out an exasperated sigh and frowned. Takuma truly had not been anything like I had expected. He kept on talking more than anyone I had ever met, well, somehow his blabbering reminded me of my mother sometimes, when she got excited. But Takuma had also been rather polite with his speech and questions. He would apologies, if he felt like he had asked something wrong and then took my options in as well. _What had we talked about again? Was it about Kei or manga? He had even asked about my family, though I did not reveal much, luckily._

Though, as much as I had liked this certain evening, I had not been really prepared for meeting Takuma again tomorrow. I was not even certain, why he even wanted to meet me again. Sure, I was going to see his mangas, which I didn't really look forward to, but surely he had others who he could show them to. Like the roommate he had mentioned or some other Night Class student. Even if none of them seemed to like that kind of stuff. They all looked like they popped out of a model magazine or something similar.

I sighed for the millionth time and almost sank down to the ground. There was a nagging feeling that getting to know him more would only become more troublesome for me, since we weren't even supposed to interact like that in the first place. When I should sleep, he should be awake, when he should sleep, I was supposed to be awake. The Night Class and the Day Class were only meant to see each other at dawn and dusk, when they returned to their dorms, but now it didn't seem to be the case with him and me. We were breaking rules for God's sake and we could even be expelled because of that. I was not so sure how he was treated around here by the Headmaster, but I knew that I was toast, if someone would find out.

An urge to rip off my hair came, but I merely ruffled it harshly. _Why I couldn't have said no to him?! Screw this stupid, guilty conscious! I'll ask not to meet him after tomorrow!_

As soon as I saw the roof of my dorm, I walked faster and almost jumped out of the bushes to meet the familiar, bare path. I was tired, irritated and worried and that was all that I needed to know to want back into my room as soon as possible. Even Kei was probably half-asleep in my bag.

"Hey, you girl." The voice made cold sweat run down both my back and face. Chills traveled across my spine and I almost stopped breathing, but managed to swallow a cry of surprise that had almost risen from my throat. "What were you doing in the forest?"

 _Oh no! Why **him**?!_

Trying to stay calm, I slowly turned to see a pair of sharp lavender eyes looking at me demandingly, or at least that was what I thought they were doing with that frown decorating that pale face. I gave a nod. "Kiryuu-san."

His expression didn't change and I almost started fidgeting nervously. Kei's warmth against my back made me feel even more worried and the bottom of my stomach twitched every time I met Zero's eyes. It was not only worry that I started to feel, but even fear creeped up every inch of my body and I felt like a rabbit in front of a wolf. The stunt that he had pulled few days ago by dragging me across the hallway made my arm ache from the memory of his strong hold and I swallowed nervously.

Yuki had told me that the silver haired prefect was not as bad as he appeared to be, but I couldn't find myself believing her words at all. Even his face was showing how displeased he truly was about seeing me entering from the forest and I silently prayed that Kei wouldn't start making any noises inside my bag. The safety of my room was just in my reach and I wasn't able to accept that there was a chance of Zero actually finding out my secret. Though, with the way I felt my hands shaking it might become true. I was already acting suspiciously.

"Did you not hear what I asked?" He didn't approach, but he was intimating enough just few feet away.

"I was taking a walk. There was not really much for me to do." I lied through my teeth rather smoothly. I had already prepared some excuses earlier this morning for emergency cases such as this.

"What's in that bag?" Zero placed his hands into the pockets of his jeans calmly, but his voice was clear and sharp like a knife. Another chill caused goosebumps spread on my skin.

"Some snacks I had brought with me." Lying felt now much easier.

"You should've been at the cafeteria. Didn't you know it still works at weekends?" The way he asked that was like pointing out that I was stupid. It sounded like that from the tone he used.

 _Crap! I wasn't prepared for that question._ The breath stopped flowing into my lungs for a moment and I started to feel lightheaded, but then I came up quickly with another lie. "I-I was already aware of this, but I should've eaten the snacks so that they would've not gone to waste."

Zero did not budge, but neither did I. If I cracked under his gaze, then it would be pretty much obvious that I was being even more suspicious. The intensity of the lavender eyes seemed to increase and I almost started shaking, when I felt Kei twist slightly against my back. Luckily, I was fully facing the prefect and there was no way he could've seen any movement behind me.

We both stood there for a while in silence, but the air was getting more colder the more the sun started to disappear. I was shivering from a breeze, the chills making goosebumps on skin and making me even more uncomfortable. However, Zero wasn't looking like he was affected by the weather at all, he just continued looking at me like I had just committed some sort of crime. But eventually, he stopped frowning, but his face was blank as a sheet of paper and not telling me anything what he was thinking.

"Get inside." He finally said and I didn't need to be told twice, when I was already heading towards the stairs and opening the door.

The warm air that hit me got my skin crawling again, but I welcomed it nonetheless. As soon as I closed the door after myself, I felt Kei starting to move again, probably from the sound of the old wood creaking loudly. Not wanting to take any risks, I did not take him out yet and just walked quickly towards my room in silence. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the girl's dorm other than myself, but it was time to stay silent in the Sun Dorm and it wouldn't have been a surprise, if someone could come out of their rooms at any minute.

I almost stumbled on the stairs and bit down on my tongue few times. I could almost feel how my heart could've soared up to the sky and I let out a huge sigh, once I was on the floor, where my own dorm room was. I hadn't noticed it before, but now I knew that my limbs were practically made out of jelly and kept shaking every time I tried to move them. Talking to Zero while having Kei hiding inside my bag was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life. _I truly was almost caught red handed. Oh my gosh._

Seeing my own door only few feet away anymore, I reached out and twisted the knob open with my keys quickly . However, a chilly air met my face again and I almost jumped back from surprise. _How could this be? There is certainly a good air conditioner in here. Is the window open?_ I switched the lights quickly open, locked the door behind me and walked to inside, expecting to find a window or something else open and letting the fresh air in, but I saw nothing. It was like the air had turned cooler on its own. So, I just stood in the middle of the whole room, totally confused.

After a while of looking around, I remembered Kei and allowed him out. He crawled out and immediately started stretching like woken up from a deep sleep, but soon he headed towards the closet. Realizing what he wanted, I opened it and he went inside into the pile of my old clothes. He curled into a soft ball of fur and almost instantly closed his eyes. The sight made me smile and I quietly closed the door, but not completely so he still could be able to breathe.

 _Now, why on earth is this place so chilly?_ I walked to the window next and looked all of them carefully. None of them had any holes on them and I did not feel any ghust of wind coming from anywhere. The outside was now almost completely dark and I closed the curtains, but still kept asking questions inside my mind. I had definitely not left any window open, when I had left. Also, the air conditioner hadn't been played with and it stayed the same, but the air kept bothering me like the images of that blond haired boy from the other dorm.

 _That's it. The air conditioner may be broken after all._ Shaking my head, I headed towards the bathroom and decided to take a bath. It would help me to get rid of my problems for a little while. But tomorrow I needed to go and see Takuma again.

The warm water slid down from my head to the rest of my body and I closed my eyes. My hands clenched from the next thought I had. _I will tell him absolutely what I think about this whole thing._

* * *

"Kazutso-san! I managed to sneak out this time without my roommate's notice."

"That's great, Ichijo-san. Now, um, could..."

"Before I forget. Here are the mangas I said I would bring. I think you would like this one, but I was not so sure so I brought another one, just in case."

"U-um, Ichijo..."

"And Kei is here, too. Hello!"

"Hissssssssss!"

"Oh, right. I've to let him smell my hand first, right, Kazutso-san?"

"Right, but..."

"How about we read these today? We've got more things to do together then."

"That sounds good..."

"I'm glad. I thought that you wouldn't want to. Not many I've met have taken an interest in these kind of things. Thank you, Kazutso-san!"

"...No problem, Ichijo-san."

* * *

"G-good morning, Kazutso-san!" Yuki greeted me, as soon as she stepped into the class and sat next to me. She seemed to be more comfortable with talking to me. She didn't stutter that much anymore. "How was y-your weekend?"

And that is how I felt my stomach drop ten feet under the ground, because I was reminded what had happened and what I wasn't able to do yesterday. A flash of light, blond color with green flashed in my mind and I almost let my head drop limply on the desk. The smile he had worn, the way he had been so happy, when he had read those books of his, was something I was not able to forget easily. I didn't understand what had come over me, but as soon as I had seen those things my mouth had completely sealed itself.

 _In the end, I was dragged along with his plans. Ugh._ My shoulders dropped and I glanced towards my bag that now had something other than school books in it. Takuma had truly went and let me borrow some mangas and now I was supposed to read them. He and I would meet again at the same spot on Saturday and Sunday again. And that was the exact reason why I felt like sleeping in today morning.

Another set of books was placed on the desk and Sayori sat down. "Kazutso-san, is something the matter?"

"No." I leaned back immediately and forced a smile. "It's just I was not able to get much sleep yesterday."

The hazel eyes didn't show any sign of suspicion. "I see. Were you nervous that a new week has started?"

"Something like that, but I'm sure I'll get used to it." I said and then looked between the two girls. "How about your weekend?"

Sayori shrugged and took out her pencil. "Pretty much the same for me. I stayed at my family's house."

"And I stayed here, naturally." Yuki smiled, but then let out a yawn.

I saw how Sayori's hand paused whatever she was doing with her books and how she turned to look at her petite friend. My eyes also slid to the brown haired girl who had noticeable, dark rings under her eyes, but other than that she continued wearing a soft smile and looking through her text book. "Yuki, did you also not sleep well last night. You know you have a patrol today."

"Yes, I know." The girl in the middle of us sighed and lowered her head quite close to the desk. "It's just that Zero has been acting weird."

"Weird?" Sayori asked and I felt my insides distort from the mention of that another prefect. I was not sure, if I was scared of him or simply disliked his attitude. "That's kind of hard to imagine."

"W-well, maybe not weird, but more edgy." Yuki said and then frowned. "I'm not sure why, though."

"Why not ask of him, then?" I suggested and was given a wide stare by two pairs of eyes. "What?"

"I'm pretty sure that he would snap rather than answer." Sayori declared and Yuki nodded weakly.

I thought over what they said and admitted that it was kind of true. He didn't seem like a sort of person who would easily accept anyone near him. The cold, sometimes irritated air was a terrifying thing to see up close and there would be doubtfully anyone who would approach that silver haired boy willingly. I certainly would not do anything so suicidal, if not for a very, very good reason. Plus, I had a first hand experience of his prude force and temper. Not to mention the scare he had given me yesterday still haunted me. He had not said much, but it still had been enough to make me want to hide under the ground.

Simply put, Zero was a difficult person to approach, even if he did not even try chasing anyone away. Though, he may also be an antisocial loner who wanted as little human contact as possible. It was kind of sad, when you thought of him that way, though. I could never imagine what it would be like to live like that, with no one to turn to in trouble. I have had my parents and friends and I was grateful that they had always been there, when I needed them, but that didn't seem to be the same case with Zero.

A sense of déjà-vu came over me and I lowered my gaze to my book. Everything started to feel slightly similar to the way I had thought about Takuma at first, which I still do, a little, but not that much. Was I such a narrow-minded person? Even I had been taught since I was small that not everyone would be someone I would like nor would I sometimes understand their actions. Even Yuki had said that I was simply misunderstanding Zero, but I had not believed her at all. Though, now I feared I started to also think like that, but pushed those thoughts quickly aside. I was not here to understand what problems other people had. I had my own concerns that I pretty much would like to solve.

 _I was not able to solve this problem._ I almost whined my feelings out loud, when I looked at the homework we had been given on the previous lesson. Well, it was math, which was still not my favorite subject and would never be as long as my heart was still beating. But I started to feel worried that that part would be asked from me to tell in front of the class by the teacher. I just kept praying that it wouldn't come to that and I wouldn't need to embarrass myself.

"Everyone, take your seats." The teacher waltzed in like been summoned by my thoughts and the students sat to their places.

As expected, I was not able to understand almost half of what the teacher was saying. It was not that I was such a bad student, but rather that my eyes kept on glancing towards my bag with impatience. I would rather read a comic book than listen to different kinds of calculations and angles of the pyramid or whatever gibberish was written on the blackboard. Slowly, my hand inched to my bag and when I felt the almost hard surface of a small book, I pulled it out. _I can't believe I'm doing this. Mother will definitely be disappointed, if she ever hears about this._

The school was a place where I needed to go to, but that didn't mean I would break its rules and so on. After all, my parents would be informed about it and it was not pleasant, if they both were upset. Of course, I did not ever want something like that, so when I was opening the pages and hid the manga from the teachers view, my heart was actually hammering in my chest and a sensation of fear actually hit me like a wave. I was curious what kind of manga I was lent, but it was almost crushed by how my hands almost shook. I just wanted to take a small peak, just a small peak. That was all.

But as soon as I got the thing open, something small and white fell from between its pages and to the floor just next to my seat. It staid there and I felt a little spark of panic in my head, but calmly glanced at the teacher, making sure that he was not aware what I was doing. And when I saw that he was in the middle of writing some sort of formula, I leaned down and reached out to the piece of paper. It was ragged on the sides, it must have been ripped off from a notebook, but there was also writing on it.

The writing on it was neat and clean, completely different from my messy one that was decorating my notebook. And the words on it were the ones that made my eyes almost widen on their own and my heart beat sped up. _"See you on Saturday. :) Takuma."_

Faster than I could've ever imagined, I crushed the paper in my hands from pure instinct, fearing that somebody might have also seen and read it. Though, Yuki and Sayori were both focused on the lesson at hand, well, Sayori was at least, while the brown haired prefect was nodding off into dreamland. What I was worried about though, were the ones behind me. The writing had luckily been pretty small, so I doubted that anyone could've read it, but I couldn't stop being a worrywart.

Almost shakily, I placed the manga back into my bag, not feeling like reading it anymore. Taking risks was truly dangerous.


End file.
